Goalscorers at the ready!

April 22, 2000
Juventus Official Site

Three players under the spotlight against Fiorentina will be Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi and Darko Kovacevic. Another player - if fitness permits - who will have the eyes of the world on him is Gabriel Batistuta. Versus Fiorentina, Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti could even decide to play all three of his front men, with Zinedine Zidane tucked in behind for good measure. They will all be after the goal that could take them ever closer to the Scudetto. The hero of the last two weeks has undoubtedly been Kovacevic. His goal at Bologna and his brace at the San Siro gifted Juve six vital points. The Yugoslav has already hit 20 goals in all competitions this season or you could say one goal every 100 minutes, even though in the League he has invariably come on as a replacement.

Inzaghi is after his 27th goal of the campaign, which would equal his best ever tally for a season, achieved two years ago in his first season with Juve, in which he won the Scudetto.

It is in the role of provider, even though he has scored seven goals from the penalty spot, that Del Piero has flourished this season. Against Fiorentina he will once again be after that goal from open play that has eluded him so far this term.

It was against Fiorentina, in fact, that Del Piero made his mark with Juve - scoring a goal which is still talked about by fans to this day. Del Piero himself regards it as one of the most important of his career. The date was 4 December 1994 and Fiorentina were leading 2-0 at the Delle Alpi thanks to goals from Baiano and Carbone, but Juve weren't about to surrender. The final stages saw the Bianconeri level the scores with a brace from Gianluca Vialli. And at 2-2, it then fell to a young Del Piero to clinch the points. It was a goal that is still shown regularly on TV today. It finished 3-2 to Juventus and at the end of the season Marcello Lippi and his troops won the Scudetto.
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