Del Piero tries to react: "Against Parma we'll play it all"
"Sunday will be a special match, we can be champions or beaten", says Ale. But Ferrara adverts: "It will take a great performance".

May 1st, 2000
La Gazzetta dello Sport

Verona - It's as if the whole Juve had put the head close to a giant gong and, from the other side, a guy like Plasmon had fired off a very strong hit. Everyone is confused. There are some who escape (Kovacevic, Zidane), some who stop and try, kindly, at least to explain. First of all to themselves, it seems. It could have been the match of the tryumph, it's become the match of the fear. Now Lazio is two points far, very threatening.

Between those who don't escape, there's Ale Del Piero. Replaced by Kovacevic to try to give more efficiency to the attack, he says: "Ancelotti has tried to turn the match by playing Darko and Tacchinardi. It's happened the way it's happened because Verona played with more persuasion. They deserved the win and we deserved the defeat. It's not fair to say that we've underestimated the match but we must admit we have dealt with it in a bad way, that's it. Now we can't make any more mistakes. But we are lucky we're still able to count on ourselves, because of the two points lead. Sunday's will be a special match. Either beaten or Italian champions. I don't think the calendar, though, was very important. Physical decrease? Well, they were more brilliant but I don't think that all of a sudden our physical condition has disappeared".

Ciro Ferrara is brief: "Verona played better and deserved to win. Alarm bell? Right, but we can get better soon. We still have two points, they can be enough: as long as against Parma they whole squad makes a great presentation". Luca Pessotto doesn't hide behind easy excuses, like the heat: "They were clearly faster than us. Nobody expected a Juve this ugly. The reason? Maybe the excessive pressure that disturbed the legs and next week will be the 'zillionth' decisive match".

Among the most depressed ones, Luca Zambrotta: "The nerves were tense but we are a great squad. We will stand up again. We have a whole week to make a nice preparation for the Parma match. There are matches that begin wrong and end wrong. We have been the ones that didn't make it right: but I have faith. We are still on the top, no?". Concludes William Vecchi, the Juventus goalkeepers' coach, that here in Verona conceded the famous five goals of the destruction of Rocco's Milan: "In fact, Verona has never brought me luck. But with Milan was the last match and we couldn't avoid it; this time there are still two, we are still two points ahead, I'm optimistic".
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