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| Trezegol's heroics spared Juve's blushes. |
David Trezeguet celebrated the prospect of a much-improved
contract with the Old Lady with an impressive hat-trick against lowly Empoli in
a thrilling match on Sunday. The French hitman's feat was matched by Empoli's Tommaso Rocchi,
who was particularly motivated to do well against the club which had offloaded him as a promising teenager in the mid-90's.
Rocchi had preceeded this memorable performance by netting the winner in the Tuscan side's rendezvous with Internazionale
at the San Siro last Sunday. To be honest, Empoli deserved to beat the Bianconeri.
Their lack of concentration allowed a wide-open Trezeguet to nod in the equaliser with a quarter of an hour remaining.
After the game, Marcello Lippi commended his charges on their attacking prowess but castigated his defensive contingent
for their lack of collective effort. When asked if he would enlist the services of a new defender before the end
of the January transfer window, Lippi commented that he was satisfied with the players at his disposal, and that as the season
progresses, the team's defence would match their potent offence. Inevitably, the performances of Empoli's Rocchi
and that of his strike partner, Italian international Antonio Di Natale, have provoked outlandish transfer
speculation in sections of the Italian media, with sources alledging pre-contract offers from Serie A big fish such as Internazionale,
AC Milan, Lazio, and incredibly, Juventus. If you can't beat them,
sign them, I suppose. The draw with Empoli means that the Bianconeri now lie in third place, three points behind
AS Roma, with sixteen matches remaining. Sunday
night also saw fellow title-challengers AC Milan record a stylish 5-0 home victory over winless Ancona.
The newly-promoted outfit held their own admirably against the reigning European champions for over one hour only
for the roof to cave in. AC Milan scored all their goals in the final 26 minutes, with Portuguese midfielder Rui
Costa registering his first Italian League goal for the Rossoneri since his summer
2001 transfer from AC Fiorentina. Ukrainian ace Andrii Shevchenko and Dane
Jon Dahl Tomasson both scored from the penalty spot. Twenty-one-year-old
Brazilian midfielder Ricardo Kaka completed the scoring with two well-taken goals,
further enhancing his reputation as a bona fide superstar-in-the-making. Elsewhere in Italy, League
leaders AS Roma were outplayed at home by a determined Udinese side who are
making a habit of making life difficult for the supposed aristocrats of Italian football. The Giallorossi
could count themselves lucky to walk away with a 1-1 draw. I hate to rehash the old cliche of the Italian
League becoming more and more difficult to win every year, but what is certain is that there are sure to be plenty of twists
in il campionato before 2003-2004
is consigned to the history books.
January 25, 2004
Empoli 3 Juventus 3
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| Trezeguet eludes Empoli's defence to score Juve's second. |
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| A bemused Marcello Lippi looks on as Juve's defence leaves a lot to be desired. |
Manager Marcello Lippi has admitted that defence, which has long
been Juve's trump card, has looked more generous than in recent years. In my estimation, veteran defenders like Ciro
Ferrara and Paolo Montero, who often struggle for pace against young, nippy strikers, should
be more interested in collecting pensions than bossing the rearguard of a team that all opponents both in Italy and in Europe
want to shoot down. Croatian star Igor Tudor has been used rather sparingly. I recall watching
a Bundesliga match in early December featuring Bayer Leverkusen and FC Koln
and was particularly struck by the former's Brazilian international central defender Lucio.
He could add great skill and physical presence to our final third. Also, attacking-third luminaries such
as Pavel Nedved, Alessandro Del Piero (who was injured for seven weeks earlier in the season), David Trezeguet, Mauro Camoranesi,
and the pint-sized Fabrizio Miccoli have yet to find their best form. When that happens, opposing teams
up and down Il Bel Paese and around Europe will
have reason to beware.
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