Rested Del Piero comes to the rescue for Juventus

November 4, 2002
SportsServer

ROME - Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero said he asked to be dropped for this weekend's 1-0 Serie A win at newly-promoted Modena, where he came off the bench to score the late winner.

Coach Marcello Lippi agreed to Del Piero's request, so Chilean forward Marcelo Salas and Marco Di Vaio started up front for Sunday's league clash.

"Lippi and I spoke about it, and we both came to the same conclusion," said the Italy international, who has now scored seven league goals this season.

"It is only right that players are rotated so that people can give their best throughout the whole season."

But Juventus failed to find a way through a well-organized Modena defense without Del Piero, so he was called into action by Lippi 11 minutes after halftime.

And the 28-year-old's introduction turned the match in Juve's favor, as he met Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved's free-kick to score with a rare header 16 minutes from time.

"It's always nice to come on and score, especially as this win was so important with Inter and AC Milan both winning."

Juventus' victory kept the team in third place with 15 points, one less than Milan and four behind leader Inter.

Lippi was very happy to collect three points from a tricky fixture which could have proved very difficult had Modena not had a goal disallowed for offside when the scores were level.

"It's difficult to come to places like this and win, because teams raise their game when they're playing Juventus," Lippi said.

"We started well and had two great chances which Di Vaio and Salas missed. After that we struggled to break through because Modena defended so well.

"They impressed me very much. No team will find it easy here."

Lippi, who hopes to have injured French striker David Trezeguet back in 10 days time, said he was content with his side's position in the table after a slow start to the campaign.

"We've had a good run of results and we are well placed behind the top two," he added.

"But we need to maintain this level of consistency and be more clinical in front of goal."
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