Time to show the right stuff, Del Piero tells Juventus

November 27, 2001
Reuters

TURIN, Italy - Striker Alessandro Del Piero is calling on Juventus to turn on the style in Wednesday's delayed Champions League Group D match against Bayer Leverkusen.

While Juventus comfortably progressed to the second phase of the Champions League, they have underachieved in Serie A this season, winning just one of their last eight domestic games.

After Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Lazio, Marcello Lippi's side lay in sixth place in Serie A, six points behind leaders Chievo.

But Del Piero believes Juve have yet to show their true quality and Wednesday's fixture, postponed due to heavy fog last week, offers just the right moment to live up to expectations.

'We believe we have great potential and now we have to come out and show that,' Del Piero told the club's website.

'On Wednesday we face the first of a series of important tests and we are up against a Bayer side who are in a completely different spell of form to us.

'But trust me, we will start again,' he said.

The Italy international striker believes his team are enjoying the Champions League more than Serie A largely due to the different style of play.

'In Europe the opposition play in a different way. The games are more open and foreign teams don't close down in the same way that the Italians do. That gives us more space and that is better suited to our game,' said Del Piero.

'But in terms of motivation we have to approach both competitions with the same determination,' he added.

The postponement has enabled French international defender Lilian Thuram to recover full fitness and he is expected to return to the starting line-up.

But although Uruguayan Paolo Montero is back in Turin after playing in his country's successful World Cup play-off against Australia, the defender is unlikely to make it beyond the bench.

Gianluca Pessotto is also fully fit and will probably slot into the right-flank at the expense of Christian Zenoni.
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