Problematic Juve given injection of faith
Reuters - Monday 20 September 2010, 09:52
MILAN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Juventus have suffered too much
pain in recent times to expect to breeze through Thursday's
home game with Palermo after their remarkable return to form at
Udinese at the weekend.
Juve won 4-0 at the early Serie A strugglers on Sunday to
record their first league victory of the fledgling campaign,
but no one is getting carried away at the once great Turin
club.
"The victory is certainly an injection of faith for the
future, even though we know we shouldn't flatter ourselves,"
new coach Luigi Del Neri told reporters.
"We still have certain difficulties to overcome but playing
like this the results will come."
The twice European champions lost their league opener at
Bari before drawing 3-3 with Sampdoria and Lech Poznan in
successive home games to underline that problems still linger
from last season where they finished seventh in Serie A.
Big spending during the transfer window brought in good
players such as Serbia's Milos Krasic rather than the really
top talent like Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane which Juve
fans had been spoiled with during the 1980s and 1990s.
The damage to the brand from their 2006 demotion for
match-fixing and Inter Milan's recent dominance of the Italian
game means Juve have struggled to recruit the very best.
This season Juve were also meant to have different sponsors
for their home and away shirts in a bid to raise extra revenue
but in the end have the same sponsor for both jerseys after the
plan backfired.
A sponsor for their new 40,000 seater stadium, which is set
to open for the start of next season on the site of the old
Delle Alpi ground, has yet to be announced despite club
expectations that the branding name would be secured months
ago.
Juve currently share the modest Stadio Olimpico with city
rivals Torino and shot-shy Palermo arrive there on Thursday on the back of a 2-1 home defeat by Inter and with
top striker Fabrizio Miccoli still injured.
Champions and early joint leaders Inter host Bari on
Wednesday when stuttering AC Milan visit Lazio.