Europa League
Thursday 30 September 2010
City of Manchester City Stadium
Kick off 8:05pm BST
Live on FIVE
Juventus
Manager – Luigi Del Neri
Top Players
Chiellini
One of the most highly rated defenders in the business. He alone will be hard to breach – never mind a goalkeeper and another three with him at the back! He’ll stick his foot in; get his head on it and a nice cheap buy if you get him early on Fifa10. He also has a decent goal scoring record.
Melo
He had a very good World Cup with the Brazil side and is a firm fixture in the starting 11 for them and Juve. He is consistent and although he doesn’t score many he does a good job in the midfield.
He was voted as the 2009 Worst Soccer player by Il Fatto Quotidiano however I think it’s safe to say that’s a little unfair on him though if he wants to prove me wrong when he plays against City I won’t stop him.
Del Piero
The man is famous for his loyalty to Juventus and seems to have been around forever. He has broken records in the past and has scored goal after goal at important times.
He is getting on a bit but still knows how to play the game well and score goals. With Juventus having quite an old squad and Italy’s pace being quite slow with the game, he could be here still for some time. With other strikers in the team it is unclear whether he will feature against City though but I had to mention this man didn’t I!?
Formed – 1st November 1897
Stadium – Stadio Olimpico di Torino
With a capacity of 28,000 it isn’t a massive stadium and is shared also by Torino and other events in Turin, but it can have a great atmosphere and has some wonderful football played in it.
It was restructured in 2006 for the Winter Olympics; however, this will be the last season they are in this stadium as a new stadium is being built (capacity of 41,000) and should be ready for next season.
League – Serie A
The History of Juve
We find ourselves in the same group as historic side Juventus! The team that have bossed Italy and Europe in the past and have a wonderful history filled with amazing moments! Yes, it’s that word once more – history – we’ve been re-writing it for some time now and supposedly ‘have none’ and its back again for another appearance as we look into the depths of Juventus.
They are the most successful Italian team of all time – now there’s one for the CV! Overall they have won 51 official competitions which are more than any other team in Italy!
These statistics aren’t helping my fetish for exclamation marks you know! The competitions vary from the Serie A to European championships – they have it all – In the 57/58 season they were given the Golden Star for Sport Excellence to wear on their shirts after becoming the first Italian side to win ten titles. TEN TITLES! In the words of Brucey himself ‘Didn`t they do well?’
With all these trophies things look fine and dandy for them in the 80s however there was a down point in the 1985 European Cup Final as an incident occurred which changed European football.
Heysel Stadium disaster
It was against Liverpool in Brussels, Belgium when it all occurred. 39 people were killed and hundreds were injured after Liverpool supporters charged at Juventus supporters and caused a crush of people against the stadium wall. This made the wall collapse and lead to these deaths and injuries – mostly to Juventus supporters. This lead to the banning of all English clubs from European competition – which has obviously now been lifted. Juventus won the match after it was decided to be played, 1-0, and lifted the trophy but it will always be remember because of the tragic deaths.
The late 80s onwards
The late 80s, mostly remembered for funky hair styles and Ghostbusters, were not as successful for the club as Napoli, AC Milan and Internazionale (Inter for those that call scones, scons) all stepped it up with both Milan clubs winning Italian championships and it took the Italian giants almost a decade to get back to their winning ways.
The winning ways came back in the 94/95 season when Marcello Lippi was brought in to manage the club. (I always felt Lippi had too much to say myself…I’ll get my coat). His job at the club is one of the most successful in the clubs history!
His first season brought Serie A back to Juventus for the first time since the 80s as they pulled up their socks and began to look a force once more! With a young Alessandro Del Peiro – Mr Juventus – at the club they went from strength to strength and got their selves back into Europe!
They went from strength to strength and over the next few seasons they brought in Zidane, Inzaghi, Edgar Davids, Buffon, Trézéguet, Nedvěd and Thuram who together won cups galore and got to the Champions League Final in 2003 – to lose out to Milan.
Lippi had left at one point for a year – to manage Inter – but came straight back a season later – however in 2004 he left for good to manage Italy’s national side – where he won the World Cup in 2006. This meant a change in management and problems.
Fabio Capello took hold of the job from here and led the team to two Serie A titles. However in 2006 they were all caught up in a match fixing scandal! Punishments, appeals, relegations, fines, shouting and explaining to wives followed and the result was that Juventus were relegated to Serie B for the first time in their history and they were stripped of their titles under Capello.
They did as expected though, and despite Thuram, Ibrahimovic (as you can imagine the red squiggly spellcheck line is underneath that as we speak) and Cannavaro leaving – they got promoted back to where they belong. Straight back up, in 06/07 as they got third place.
From here however it hasn’t quite lasted as last season they clinched 7th place and got into the UEFA Europa League instead of the Champions League they have been used to in the past.
Present
Luigi Del Neri – is now the coach at Juventus as they find themselves in the Europa League. They are still a tough team to beat of course with some top players, however not as good as they once were. Beatable. Very much so beatable.
DID YOU KNOW! – Juventus were first of all playing in pink however later changed into black and white stripes before 1905 inspired by…Notts County.
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