Juventus Blog: 05/25/09

Del Piero And Marchisio: A Pair Of Protagonists

All those who watched the match against Siena, witnessed the great match played by the captain and the youngster. Both players seemed to be on the same wavelength throughout crowned by two goals by the captain and another by the young midfielder.

The captain seemed to be very happy with the outcome of the match and positive about the future, even though rather disappointed with the outcome of the season in general:

"It was a god match, we played well, we ran, we had many attempts, we even missed a few chances, but it was a great match. We were more concentrated then in the past few weeks. We had the right motivation and mentality and we have a coach who makes us see things positively. I would have preferred having ended the season in a different manner but we will work harder next year. Now we must try to end this season in the second place".

Asked how it feels to have Ciro Ferrara as coach after all the matches played together on the field: "As a player he was great. As a coach he just played one match but I really hope he will have many more sitting on the bench".

Claudio Marchisio came back from a series of injuries to immediately leave his impact in a crucial match for the final outcome of the season: "I am happy to have come back after a month of injuries. I feared cramps but I am glad to have healed well thanks to the staff. The team played well and we managed to put a large weight on the match from the first half".

The midfielder spoke of the changes in the last week: "We worked differently this week. It is normal with a change of coach. Today we felt we could cope with the heat. I am happy with the goal and I would like to thanks Alex for the pass. I try to help out even in the attack because that’s what all good players do and today I managed to do so well".

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Ferrara: "Everything Worked Perfectly"

A true cross-road in destiny: n one side Ciro Ferrara in his first match on the bench and on the other side Paolo Maldini in his last match as a player. Many were the points of contact between the two champions who wrote their names in Italian football. This is confirmed by the Juventus coach:

"I sent him a sms in which I wrote that my joy at this moment is equal to the sadness for his goodbye to football. It is the retirement of the best defender of the last three decades".

After the well deserved applause to Paolo Maldini, Ferrara commented a match for the first time as Juventus coach. He made his debut with a few but very significant words:

"Everything worked perfectly. I couldn’t ask for better".Then he went on: "It was a very intense week during which I experienced various feelings. Happiness on one side, worry on the other. Then I came to the stadium, before the match and I felt better".

The Juventus seen on the field today gave the results which all had hoped for: "I thank the boys for the commitment shown during the week. I spoke clearly to them as fro the first day: it is difficult to work on the tactical aspect two weeks from the end of the championship and so I tried to work on motivation, on self-appreciation and on the intensity during the training sessions and they responded well".

One cannot miss out on a comment about the performance of the captain who scored twice and passed the ball of the other goal notwithstanding the injury suffered during the week:

"I chose to field him- concluded Ferrara – because during the week he trained well and only slowed down a bit because of that blow during training. However, even during the fine-tuning session he played the mini-match and took the free-kicks. I had to choose who to field alongside Iaquinta and I chose him and I did well: great play, goals, passes and perhaps he could have been even more incisive when it came to scoring but he reacted like a captain".

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Zebina: "The Mentality Was The Most Positive Thing"

It was a transformed Juventus that we saw on the field and even a transformed Zebina who was seen running up and down the flank with determination:

"We are much more relaxed because what we managed to reach our objective a week ahead. This is a reward for all of us and our work. We will now work hard to obtain the second place".

The defender seems to have liked the change on the bench: "Ciro managed to remind us of whom we are. He charged us up and it was clear from his words that he is an ex-Juve player who won a lot. The mentality was the most positive thing. We were under a lot of pressure but when we have this mentality and everybody helps each other we manage to make a difference".

"I am very happy for one reason: I was not considered much by Ranieri and this is acceptable but I felt the faith in me immediately by the new coach. I am very happy that I gained the faith of Ferrara and played a good match".

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Siena - Juventus 0-3

Ciro Ferrara's first game in charge of Juventus ended in a 3-0 win at Siena, as Alessandro Del Piero scored twice, including a wonder-goal.

Following Claudio Ranieri's sacking on Monday, interim coach Ciro Ferrara was hoping for an immediate victory to hold off Fiorentina, who had closed to within one point of Juventus' third place. The Bianconeri were without the injured Sissoko, Knezevic, Ekdal, Molinaro, and Grygera. Alex Del Piero partnered Vincenzo Iaquinta in attack.

Siena were safe and had little to play, but they were minus the services of strikers Nicola Amoruso and Mario Frick, who were injured.

First Half

There was a minute's silence before the game in respect of Vicenza fan Eugenio Bortolon, who died tragically yesterday after falling from the stands in the game at Parma.

The first flashpoint was on 12 minutes as Emanuele Calaio raced through and was held back by Paolo De Ceglie. Some referees may have given De Ceglie a red card, but he escaped with yellow. Calaio curled the free kick just over.

Juventus missed the first glorious chance of the game, as Iaquinta found himself clean through from Claudio Marchisio's pass, but was denied by the feet of Gianluca Curci.

Three minutes later Juve were ahead thanks to a wonder-strike from Del Piero. The Golden Boy curled home a magnificent 30-yard free kick into the top corner, with Curci not even moving.

Del Piero had a half-chance for a second soon after, but lashed over from 10 yards. On 32 minutes, the Juve captain squandered a fantastic opening as he latched onto Nedved's pass, but got his feet tangled and allowed Portnaova to rob him.

A second goal seemed only a matter of time, and it arrived on 37 minutes. Marchisio began and finished the move, exchanging passes with Del Piero, bursting through and delicately flicking the ball over the onrushing Curci.

Second Half

The beginning of the second half saw a far more passive Juventus, who were happy to control the game without over-exerting themselves.

The next effort of note came just shy of the hour mark as Del Piero let fly with a long-range volley that was smothered by Curci.

The tempo was painfully slow at times, but Del Piero perhaps should have made it three as he attempted to round Curci, but was denied by the diving former Roma man.

Del Piero did eventually grab his second, and Juventus' third in the penultimate minute, as he raced through on goal, and rounded Curci to slot home.

With Milan losing at home to Roma, the Bianconeri move up to second in the league.

Secco: "The Players Showed Great Motivation"

Satisfaction returned on the face of the Juventus sports director, Alessio Secco, following the great performance by the team on the first match as coach of Ciro Ferrara.

The words of the sports director reflect the outcome of the match: "Finally we had a great match and a good result which puts us directly in the Champions league and joint second with Milan. We must work hard during this week to try to end the championship as runners-up which would be a rather good result when one takes everything into consideration»"

The team seemed to have gone an impressive change in the last week returning to be the Juventus which we saw during most of the season: "The players showed great motivation. The results on Sunday reflect the work done during the week. The team seemed tranquil even though it is not easy in the situation we were but they managed to find the right mentality once again".

Del Piero scored twice and gave the winning ball to Marchisio for the second goal: "Alex played a good match, scoring the opener with one of his free-kicks and scoring a good second goal by going round the goalkeeper".

The victory does not mean that Siena let go: "Siena played a good match and so the victory is even more important. The heat obviously left its effect but Juventus came to the stadium very determined".

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