Juventus striker out five months with knee injury

November  9, 1998
SportsServer

TURIN, Italy - Juventus' hopes of retaining its league title was in doubt Monday when it was announced that star striker Alessandro Del Piero would be out at least five months with a left-knee injury.

Del Piero, who suffered the injury at the end of Sunday's 2-2 draw with Udinese, did not say whether he would need an operation.

The news came on Del Piero's 24th birthday, just as he had rediscovered the scoring touch that won the Italian championship for Juventus last season and took the club to the European Cup final.

A poor stretch at the World Cup continued into the early part of this season, and Del Piero was dogged by insinuations of doping by AS Roma coach Zdenek Zeman. A rash of goals at club and international looked to have redeemed the talented striker.

But his season could already be over, spelling big trouble not just for Juventus but also for Italy as it tries to qualify for the European championships in 2000.

Del Piero scored both goals in Italy's 2-0 win over Switzerland last month at Udine, in the very stadium where he was injured Sunday. He will now miss Italy's next two games in March against Denmark and Belorussia.
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