Juventus is the third oldest and the first
professional club in Italy. Their worldwide success and fan base is only
matched by their dark and scandalous past. For now they are a club again riding
the wave of success. They currently share top spot with Napoli atop the Serie A
ladder and are very much alive in the lucrative UEFA Champions League round of
16. The side boasts no less than nine Italian internationals, in including their
very popular Captain Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini and the Euro 2012 hero
and evergreen mid-fielder Andrea Pirlo. Their form in the domestic competition
is steady but this year is a much tightly fought league and they still have
much work to do to claim the League trophy. The immediate focus is their first up
Champions League encounter with current Scottish Champions Celtic. Juventus
will know from Barcelona’s surprising loss in November that the ‘Hoops’ are by
no means easy beats. It will take a great deal of skill for Juve to come away
from Celtic Park in Glasgow with a win.
Ideally Juventus would be well placed to draw
the match or notch up one or more important away goals that have the momentum balanced
in the favor for the return leg in Turin on March 6. It can be argued that
Celtic plays in the “easier” Scottish Premier League and they are the poorer
cousins in terms of class to the two time Champions League titleholders. Celtic
have tasted success in Champions League winning it back in 1966/67, and possess
handy form after only tasting defeat twice in 10 starts this campaign, one of
those being a narrow loss to Barcelona at Camp Nou.
Juventus will be buoyed by the news of their
captain and keeper recently agreeing to a contract extension that will see him
wear the gloves for his beloved club until 2015. Buffon has made it clear that his
passion is winning trophies and besides the ‘Scudetto’, the elusive Champions
League trophy is the one his team is chasing. If they are to progress late into
the tournament or even onto Wembley, then it could well be Buffon providing one
or more of his trademark penalty saves that denies their opponents from glory.
The last time Juventus tasted success in the
prestigious tournament was back in 1996 when they met Dutch powerhouse Ajax in
the final and prevail on penalties. Great names of football such as Fabrizio Ravanelli,
Allesandro Del Piero and captain Gianluca Vialli littered this wonderful side. The
club has consistently experienced success at home but dominance in Europe has
always been the yardstick that measures a club’s greatness. When looking into
the current markets, the ‘Black and Whites’ are fourth favorite to win the
competition with Barcelona the clear favorite over Real Madrid and Bayern
Munich. Manchester United with their handy buffer over cross-town rivals City
in the EPL, is wonderful value considering they boast the firepower of Robin
Van Persie and Wayne Rooney upfront. They do have a huge task ahead after
drawing a very tough opponent in Real Madrid. No other team in Europe can boast
the record of Real Madrid after winning this competition nine times since 1956,
but their recent form and ongoing speculation concerning Jose Mourinho’s tenure
favors a possible upset is on the cards.
As the 2012-13 tournament progresses the
cream of football talent always rises to the top and what makes it the favored tournament
of the football purist. Nothing beats crawling out of bed on a crisp autumn
morning to make the journey to my local café to resume my intimate relationship
with football and a piping hot cup of Italian hot chocolate. As the game ends
it’s off to work to then dissect the game with my peers and look forward to the
next leg. My money will be on Buffon raising the trophy for his beloved
Juventus in May, but anything can and does happen in Champions League.
SoccerSouls.com
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