From the papers

January 16, 2001
Juventus Official Site

The big story in today's sports press is Alex Del Piero's imminent return. The Gazzetta dello Sport leads with, "Roma, you have fired-up Juve." Del Piero is nearly fit to return, and he is reported as saying, "The League is still open. We can make up the lost ground. But Lazio and Fiorentina are also in the running." He also announced that he is up to playing against Perugia on Sunday. "I'm ready. Me and Milan? No one knows the future."

Carlo Ancelotti was also particularly upbeat, saying "Roma are not unbeatable. As for the contract, it's just a case of signing it. I want to stay. We must not let Perugia wind us up. If we play football like we know how, we can win."

The Corriere dello Sport headlines with "Del Piero and Batistuta: We're coming." On the inside pages the Juve number 10 says, "We must not let last year's result play on our minds. Roma are good, but you win the Scudetto with consistency. We collapsed at the crucial point last year."

"I wouldn't want to be in the referee's shoes on Sunday. And let's hope it doesn't rain," quipped Ancelotti, recalling events on the last day of last season.

In Tuttosport the rumour mill is as healthy as ever: "Juve after Vieri." The Turin daily suggests that Luciano Moggi will try and take advantage of the unhappy relations between Vieri and the Inter fans to try and bring the striker back to Turin. Filippo Inzaghi would be sacrificed. But Barcelona, Real Madrid and Lazio are also on the hunt.

The daily also carries the dramatic comments of Del Piero, "I don't know if I'll stay at Juve."
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