The championship of the second Italian division is now special. Is it a joke: the tournament is played by the most authoritative titled Apennine club, incredibly popular and far from the Apennine peninsula. A detailed account of the reasons for the first appeal in the biography of Juve is unnecessary. The story of exposing the unscrupulous acts of the former club leader Luciano Modgi was a hit in the stormy summer of 2006.
Now that tournament battles are in full swing, there is little recollection of those litigation. Unless clubs that have suffered spectacle punishments give up attempts to cut fines. In particular, a decision on the cases of Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina, which have filed complaints with the Italian Arbitration Court, will be made in the coming days. According to rumors, the verdict will be positive. And then the same “Old Signore” will add a few points. In any case, few doubt that Turintsy will cope with the task of getting into Serie A even taking into account the starting deficit of -17.
Perhaps they would be able to make up even the “-30” handicap, which loomed after the first, not commuted, sentence. After all, the championship series “B”, with 22 teams, is quite flexible. Direct trips to the strongest division will receive a duet of the best based on the results of two-round rivalry. The third vacancy through the playoffs will be challenged by applicants who will take places from third to sixth.
So, over the past eight rounds, “Juve” significantly reached the first six, reducing the gap from it to 11 points. At the same time, the grand has a game in stock. 13 points are separated from the second line of Turintsy. By the way, last Saturday the team of Didier Deschamps, having won the sixth victory in a row, got out of the negative zone and settled in the 20th position.
True, the "Old Signora" started not too convincingly. A draw with Rimini raised a wave of discontent. The heir to the Fiat empire Lapo Elkann, one of the owners of the club, advised the players to wake up sooner and quickly understand what series "B" is. Team President Giovanni Cobolli Gigli spoke in the same vein: "They will not be able to win without showing all their potential. I think a trip to Rimini will be a good lesson." Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon adequately assessed the situation: “We didn’t do the right thing. Representing the great club, we didn’t show it on the field. In the second tier, no one guarantees a simple life. We also need to work here.” And before Rimini there was another misfire, much more global. “Juventus”, losing in the penalty shootout “Napoli”, dropped out of the Cup of the country - and in fact his win gave the club the only chance to get into the European Cup 2007/08.
Now there is nothing left but to focus on the championship. And of course, this has obvious benefits. For once, Del Piero, Nedved, Buffon, Trezeguet, Camoranesi and others like them received a lightweight calendar. Given the busy previous season, it is very useful for the normal restoration of moral and physical strength. Surely this important aspect was reflected in the motivation of many key performers, who remained faithful to the "Old Signore". Of course, there were other incentives. But Buffon most clearly expressed his position: “This club made me a winner. Therefore, I am a world champion. I defended the colors of Juve for five years. I admit, I wanted to diversify my career somehow. But, after Juventus was fined , all such desires have disappeared. "
As a result, five (!) World champions at once, including Deschamps, romp around the Apennine province and, according to them, do not regret anything. All over the world there is only one team, with even more winners of planetary forums. This is Milan, the eternal rival of Bianconeri. At the disposal of Carlo Ancelotti there are eight titled persons. However, their inexpressive fall performance only confirms the assumption of the need for some respite.
In seven meetings, Juventus scored 14 goals, and missed 2, once in two starting fights. Then Buffon acted invariably “dry”, and other people's gates hit Trezeguet - 5, Del Piero, Bozhinov, Cristiano Zanetti - 2 each, Bumsong, Nedved and Paro - 1 each.
The two most recent victories brought Zanetti, who spent the winning balls in the away games with “Treviso” (1: 0) and “Triestina” (1: 0). The reference midfielder, the owner of the 2000/01 Scudetto as part of Roma, was one of the leaders of that squad Fabio Capello, and apparently had the best season of his career then. The current achievements reminded of the time when many, not without reason, considered Zanetti the strongest central midfielder in Italy. However, the accusations of Triestina in the bias of the referee Bergonzi, who did not seem to take into account the fair goal of the hosts, spoiled the overall rainbow picture. Spiteful “Juve” immediately began to relish this episode, hinting at another fact of the behind-the-scenes grand work ...
Meanwhile, the October decline in performance was caused by the unusual silence of recognized goalies. Trezeguet, having scored 5 goals in the first autumn month, set off for idle reasoning. The fact that, they say, no matter what his scorer will be at the end of the tournament, the main thing is that the Turin club returns to the elite.
A goal drought Del Piero came after the striker spent the 199th goal in the “Old Signora”. Alessandro seems to be enslaved by the idea that he is just a step away from the anniversary mark. Partners and the coach strongly support Del Pierrot, and the Bulgarian Valery Bozhinov promised: “If I am on the field with him, I will try to help score. I will beat the defense with the goalkeeper and wait for Alex to give him the exact pass. This will be the 200th goal Del Pierrot. "
Deschamps, by the way, takes the victory march with caution, rightly remarking: "From the point of view of statistics, the more we win, the higher are the chances of losing in the next match."
In the coming weekend, the favorite meets at home with a modest “Frosinone” and has every chance to extend the unbeaten run in the Italian championships. She has 35 games (24 wins and 11 draws). The last time the Turinians conceded almost a year ago, when they laid down their arms in front of Milan on October 29 - 1: 3. Note that a couple of weeks ago they left defeated in a friendly match. During the pause caused by the matches of the national teams, the “Bianconeri” were defeated by “Sampdoria” - 0: 4. True, in that game mainly the second numbers participated ...
So what can prevent Juventus from moving up the tournament ladder? Such an obstacle promised to become an insidious schedule of games. Unlike series "A", it does not provide pauses during the games of national teams. However, Turintsy easily bypassed the first underwater reef and in early October made a logical transfer to a later date for a meeting with a strong "Brescia".
In general, the coaches of the other clubs agree that the “Old Signora” will finish in the first two without any problems. The only exception is the steering “Cesena” Fabrizio Castori: “They will be able to return only through the playoff matches. Yes, the Turin started well, but the championship is long and they will still have difficulties. Serie B is a very balanced league. If they they want to enter Serie A without a playoff, they need to score 98 points. And it’s not as easy as it seems at first glance. " Deschamps also assessed the problem from an arithmetic point of view: “There are 126 points in the draw. Having lost about 30, we can still claim a place that will allow Juventus to once again set the goal of conquering the Scudetto a year later.”
Grand’s high ambitions do not refute even more concrete plans for large-scale strengthening. Here are the names of the footballers whom the news bulletins made in Juventus only in the last month: Mascherano, Tevez, Robinho, Barzagli, Shimunich, Fabio Rochemback, Stefano Seedorf ...
Denis ORLOV