Del Piero eyes league start after cup stunner
Reuters - Thursday 26 January 2012, 02:59
Juventus stalwart Alessandro Del
Piero could be in line for a rare league start when the leaders
host third-placed Udinese on Saturday following his superb
strike in the Italian Cup in midweek.
Del Piero netted his first goal at Juve's new stadium in
Tuesday's 3-0 quarter-final win over AS Roma and with Mirko
Vucinic and Fabio Quagliarella not fully fit, the 37-year-old
hopes ex-team mate-turned-coach Antonio Conte again gives him
the nod.
"If you had asked me to imagine my first goal in our new
stadium, I would have dreamt it like that," Juve's record scorer
Del Piero said on his own website.
"I've scored my first goal. Let's say it is a good start."
Juve are hoping to wrap up the signing of Sevilla
defender Martin Caceres but the Uruguayan may not move in time
for Saturday.
Udinese trail Juve by three points after an astonishing
first half of the campaign despite selling Alexis Sanchez and
Gokhan Inler, two of their best three players, in the close
season.
Second-placed champions AC Milan, a point behind Juve, host
Cagliari on Sunday while city rivals Inter Milan travel to lowly
Lecce with the duo no nearer to signing Manchester City striker
Carlos Tevez.
Milan will instead hope newly-voted Italian players' player
of the year Zlatan Ibrahimovic can continue his goalscoring
form.
Inter, who could well be saying goodbye to Thiago Motta amid
interest from Paris Saint-Germain, lie fourth after a superb surge
up the table since Claudio Ranieri took over in late September.