Del Piero cast in starring role

October 23, 2001
UEFA.com

Wearing a plaster cast on his left hand to protect a broken finger, Alessandro del Piero could have been forgiven for having an average night on Tuesday. But the Juventus FC captain served up a display of sublime skill and maturity in front of a partisan crowd inside the Delle Alpi stadium, as his side came from behind to beat FC Porto 3-1 in their UEFA Champions League Group E encounter. 

Juventus qualify
On a night when both sides could have secured their passage to the second group stage of Europe's premier club competition, Del Piero led his troops to qualification and, in the process, scored one of the goals of the tournament so far. Porto took an early lead through Clayton, but Del Piero soon drew his side level with a stunning free-kick. Pavel Nedved, also impressive throughout, was felled 20 metres from goal and the Italian international curled a pacy free-kick up and over the Porto wall and beyond the static Sergei Ovchinnikov. 

'A good level'
"It was a good match," said Del Piero. "Trezeguet got another goal and Nedved played a very good game. Tonight we have taken three points and also given a good performance. I try to play at a good level. This is what the team needs and that is what I try to do."

'Beautiful goal'
Juventus coach Marcello Lippi was delighted with the victory and also praised his captain's goal. "I am particularly happy to win because this victory means we have reached the first target of this year; to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League," said Lippi. "This Juventus team is trying to become a great team and it was important to qualify tonight so we can rotate our squad for the last game [against Celtic FC]. We made a good start to the game but Porto's goal made us play with fear. Thanks to Del Piero for his beautiful goal and to all the players for being able to come from behind to win the match."

Bitterly disappointed
Porto coach Octávio Machado was bitterly disappointed by the result, but offered few excuses for his side's inability to build on their early pressure. The Portuguese side must now beat Rosenborg BK at home next week, as defeat, combined with a win for Celtic against Juventus, would send his team crashing out of the competition.

'Our worst performance'
"We are not happy with the result," Machado said. "We were not able to find any continuity in our play and we lost a lot of possession in the midfield. We cannot afford to do this, especially against a team like Juventus. This was our worst performance of the season so far and I don't understand why because we started well in a tactical sense. Later in the match we started to make errors. We had a chance to score at the start of the second half but after that the match was finished. I now hope that Juventus go for the win when they face Celtic in the last match."
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