Juve deny Anelka story

July 27, 1999
Juventus Official Site

French striker Nicolas Anelka has in no way signed for Juventus. The club has made an official statement to this effect via a press release, following the stories which appeared in the morning's newspapers.

Meanwhile, the team has left for Rostov where it will face Russian side Rostselmash in the first leg of the Intertoto semi-final at 6pm (4pm Italian time) tomorrow.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti has not yet announced his starting line-up, but Montero, Conte and Inzaghi - none of whom have so far played in an Intertoto match - should all play.

Van der Sar, who seems to have overcome a mild flu virus, should return to goal. If not, Rampulla is ready to take his place, with the young Isaksson on the bench.

The three-man defence will consist of Ferrara, Montero and either Mirkovic or Iuliano. Zambrotta and Bachini will play down the wings, with Oliseh and Conte (who takes the place of Tacchinardi, ruled out by a tendon injury) in central midfield. Ancelotti intends to play Edgar Davids in the gap between the midfield and the attack.

The coach will be relying upon the Inzaghi-Kovacevic strike partnership. "Kovacevic will greatly help Pippo Inzaghi's game," Ancelotti explained. "Pippo will be able to make the most of the Serb's movement in order to gain more space for himself in front of goal."

Still on the subject of Kovacevic, Ancelotti added: "He has not yet demonstrated his full ability - but it is normal for new signings to take a little time to settle into the side, and to adapt to our brand of match preparation."

As for the type of perfomance we can expect from the Bianconeri tomorrow evening, Ancelotti warned, "It is unlikely that we will play really attractive football. What we will be aiming to do, however, is to obtain the right result against a side whose domestic season has already begun. As far as I have been able to tell from videocassettes, Rostselmash will probably play in a 3-4-3 formation, with one centre forward, two attacking wingers and man-for-man marking in defence."

Finally, good news on Del Piero: Ancelotti has not ruled out the possibility of his making an appearance in the return leg at Cesena, though it probably would not be for the whole match. Zidane, on the other hand, will still be out.
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