Hard times ahead for Del Piero

August 7, 2000
Onefootball.com

Alessandro Del Piero has been told by his club president that he will have to fight for his place in the Juventus team next season after an unconvincing last couple of years.

Del Piero was troubled by a knee injury for most of the 1998-99 campaign and only managed one goal from open play throughout the whole of last season. He has also struggled to convince on the international stage, following a poor 1998 World Cup with two glaring misses in the final of Euro 2000 which would have given the Azzurri victory.

And to make matters worse for the diminutive forward, president Umberto Agnelli has declared that Del Piero will be under close scrutiny next season - and injury won't be a feasible excuse.

Agnelli, who met all the players on Monday, warned: "If Del Piero does not play well, he will go out of the line-up.

"Last year we cuddled him, this year he will be judged along with everyone else. In the striker line we also have Filippo Inzaghi and David Trezeguet and the French player is a very good player."

Agnelli said about the struggle to win back the Scudetto: "I think that seven or eight teams have the same possibilities at the beginning of the tournament. Then luck and determination will be very important."
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