Juventus hopes Zidane's magic will continue

January 20, 2000
SportsServer

Milan - Juventus defends its leadership at the top of Serie A this weekend, hoping that French playmaker Zinedine Zidane's inspired run of form will continue as it seeks revenge on Reggina.

Mighty Juventus, the most successful club in Italian soccer history, was held to an embarassing 1-1 home draw in Reggina's first ever match in the Serie A last August.

For Juventus, it was a disappointing start to the season - and one that continued a month later with a 2-0 defeat at Lecce, another poor but newly-promoted southern club.

Now, Juventus will be looking to set the record straight at Reggio Calabria, with Zidane supporting Alessandro Del Piero and possibly Yugoslav striker Darko Kovacevic - should Filippo 'SuperPippo' Inzaghi fail a fitness test.

Del Piero may be creating goals and converting the odd penalty, but he is still well short of his best and could do with a big performance on Sunday.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti hopes that the gifted striker, who is back after a season ruined by injury, will eventually play him himself into form.

"If Ancelotti says that he is happy, with the assists that I'm able to provide at the moment, then that's just fine by me," Del Piero said.

"But if he wasn't happy, then it's only right that he think about alternatives."

That said, it would be a brave coach who dropped a player being paid $5.5 million a year.

Beating Reggina would also send another shot across the bows of rivals Lazio, which went to Reggio Calabria last week and only managed a 0-0 draw.

Only one point behind in the table, Lazio is just waiting for Juventus to slip up and allow the Rome club to return the top.

Sven Goran Eriksson's men are away to bottom club Cagliari but will again be without striker Marcelo "Il Matador" Salas.

Veteran striker Roberto Mancini will stand in for the Chilean, as he did in last week's stalemate, probably alongside Croatian Alen Boksic.

Third placed AS Roma, which like neighbor Lazio plays on Saturday, is at  home to relegation strugglers Piacenza. The battle, if there is one, will be between the joint best attack in Serie A against the worst (34-9).

Roma will be back to full strength up front with the return of Marco Delvecchio, following a bout of the flu, alongside in-form Vincenzo Montella.

Skipper Francesco Totti will be just behind the front men, supported by Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata.

Piacenza is unlikely to hold out for long, despite the experience of 40-year-old defender Pietro Vierchowod.

Parma will certainly be hoping for an upset - the northern club are level on points with Roma after slipping up last weekend in a 0-0 draw at Lecce.

This time, Parma is at home to Perugia, whose form has been an unmitigated disaster since the New Year - losing all three games 5-0, 5-0 and 3-0.

Champions AC Milan will have Christian Abbiati back between the posts for  its home game against Lecce.

Inter, meanwhile, hopes to continue its run of form since the arrival of Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf. The team travels to Verona, where it has parked its promising young French goalkeeper, Sebastien Frey, on loan.

Serie A fixtures this weekend (1400 GMT unless stated)

Saturday: AS Roma v Piacenza, Cagliari v Lazio (1930 GMT); Sunday: Bari v Fiorentina, AC Milan v Lecce, Reggina v Juventus, Torino v Bologna, Udinese v Venezia, Verona v Inter Milan, Parma v Perugia (1930 GMT)
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