From the papers
August 25, 1999
Juventus Official Site
Juventus are through to the UEFA Cup
after drawing 2-2 away at Rennes (goals by Conte and Zambrotta). The daily
papers give them a pat on the back whilst pointing out that it was a difficult
match for the Bianconeri.
"Conte calms Juve’s jitters" was Gazzetta
dello Sport's comment on last night's match. "Half an hour of hell. Rennes
mounted wave upon wave of attack, hitting the post and then scoring. They
were close to turning round Juventus' 2-0 lead from the first leg. In the
29th minute the captain, Conte, found the net with a header to level the
score on the night and settle Juventus’ nerves. Van der Sar, Del Piero
and Zambrotta were all singled out for special praise, the Dutch goalkeeper
for saving everything that Rennes could throw at him and Zambrotta for
his boundless reserves of energy. On page three the newspaper says that
when the stakes are high, Conte comes up trumps. This is exactly what he
did by scoring the crucial goal which ensured his team's qualification
for the UEFA Cup. Zidane says that the rest of the league now know that
Juventus will be there or thereabouts.
'Juve superb! Storming ahead to the
UEFA Cup' screams Tuttosport’s headline. But further on, the paper balances
this out by saying that it was a nervy match for Juventus. It also reports
that Ancelotti was reasonably pleased overall. "The midfielders must defend,"
said Ancelotti. Tuttosport rated Van der Sar hightly, giving him eight
points out of ten.
Corriere dello Sport is more measured
in its analysis. "Welcome back Juve but Conte settles Juventus’ nerves".
Ancelotti thanked Del Piero for his work saying that he had played a crucial
role. "We suffered a bit, but we achieved the minimum we set out to achieve
and now we have to focus on the league."
La Stampa comments that it was thanks
to Conte that Juventus got through to the UEFA Cup.
The papers vary on what they have to
say about Edgar Davids’ health. Corriere dello Sport's headline reports
that Davids is off to the Netherlands to avoid having to have an operation
while Tuttosport believes that surgery is probable, if not inevitable.
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