Juve celebrations tinged with bitterness
Reuters - Sunday 06 May 2012, 22:33
Juventus celebrations at winning
Serie A were tinged with bitterness on Sunday as players and
officials remembered how the club was stripped of the 2005 and
2006 titles over the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.
Officially, Juve's 2-0 win at Cagliari brought them their
28th title but sporting director Giuseppe Marotta (pictured) said that, as
far as he was concerned, it was their 30th.
"It's our 30th scudetto. We have 30 on all the champagne
bottles and we have won 30 titles," he told television
reporters.
"There was a lot of hard work from the whole club, but we
absolutely deserved this. Our added value is Antonio Conte."
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said it was the second high
point of his career after winning the World Cup with Italy in
2006, the same year Juve were demoted to Serie B in the scandal.
"I suffered a lot, six years is a long time but it was worth
the wait," said Buffon, one of several members of the current
squad who played in Serie B.
"This is my best moment after winning the World Cup," added
the Italy goalkeeper who also won titles in 2002 and 2003.
"I won five titles on the field although they have only
awarded me three of them, well, what can I do about it?" he
said.
Alessandro Del Piero, used sparingly in the campaign at the
age of 37, also remembered the players who agreed to play in
Serie B after Juventus were demoted.
"For me and the others who were there, there is something
very special about this moment," he said. "I would like to
remember all the boys who played in Serie B, we all came back
very happy."
"This is my payback for 2006."
Juventus took an unassailable four-point lead at the top on
Sunday after champions AC Milan, the only side who could have
caught them, lost 4-2 to Inter Milan.