From the papers

August 10, 1999
Juventus Official Site

Juventus dominates the headlines of all today’s sports newspapers, partly due to tonight’s clash against Rennes (live on Rai 1 at 8.45pm Italian time) in the first leg of the Intertoto final at Cesena, and partly due to the ongoing Edgar Davids saga - more of which later. But Juve are not the only side in action today: Inter are to meet St Etienne (look out for Pirlo playing in the hole behind Vieri and Recoba) and Roma are to test themselves against Seville, though star player Francesco Totti is unavailable.

"Del Piero to lead the Juventus attack" begins an excited Gazzetta dello Sport, before moving onto the story which had the club up in arms yesterday: namely, the Italian FA’s block on Edgar Davids, out of action for three days now with a glaucoma. The Italian authorities have a ban which prevents players with eye infections from playing for the sake of their own safety, and have consequently scuppered the Dutch star’s hopes of making tonight’s line-up.

Tuttosport thinks that the whole episode is "absurd" before going on to quote Alessandro Del Piero’s comparison between Juventus and Formula One: "We are like Eddie Irvine," he says. "We aren’t yet in pole position, but we are winning all the same!"

Corriere dello Sport is less enthusiastic, claiming that the Bianconeri are  looking a bit nervy at the moment, before going on to say that it senses a new beginning in the air after the disappointment of last season. La Stampa, the Turin-based quality daily, also leads with Del Piero’s Eddie Irvine comparison. "You won’t have to wait long to see our winning qualities in action," promises the Juventus golden boy.

As for the Davids crisis, La Stampa has sought the opinion of a certain Professor Dal Monte, chairman of the Institute of Sports Science, who reckons that David’s eye problem could be cured using medicines which do not come under the authorities’ list of banned substances.

Moving onto tonight’s match against Rennes, coach Ancelotti will field Pippo Inzaghi up front with Kovacevic, though it is likely that Zinedine Zidane and Del Piero will both make appearances in the second half. Davids, obviously, will not make the line-up and Oliseh, who Ancelotti was planning to rest, will take his place in midfield.

Both Fiorentina and Parma are busy making their final preparations for their first matches in the third qualifying round of the Champions League tomorrow night. Fiorentina will face Polish side Lodz, while Parma will be looking to overcome Glasgow Rangers.

Meanwhile, Lazio striker Marcelo Salas has returned to Italy after his holidays, and claims that he will miss Christian Vieri, his striking partner last season. Staying in the capital, Roma’s number ten Francesco Totti is out of action for a week with a minor back problem.

Torino have had better news: new defender Diawara, who recently disappeared for three days, has rejoined his team in pre-season training at Sommariva Perno. He has apologised for the "misunderstanding," explaining that he had been staying at home to keep his mother, who was unwell, company.

The experiment with fielding two referees in a match, which took place yesterday at Sportilia, makes the front page of the Corriere. Serie A officials Trentalange and Bazzoli were the guinea pigs. The match they officiated? A meeting between two teams made up of Serie C referees!
.