A 1-0 victory will be enough to see Juventus past Liverpool on Wednesday and into the semi-finals of the Champions League and that is not a result that is unfamiliar to Fabio Capello's side.
Liverpool lead 2-1 from the first-leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie but Fabio Cannavaro's second half 'away goal' for Juve could turn out to be decisive.
| |||||||||||
But Liverpool will take heart from the fact that Juve's normally rock solid defence has been shaken twice in the past week -- even if they will be without their inspirational skipper Steven Gerrard, ruled out with a groin injury.
First Liverpool themselves opened up the Italian backline with ease as they scored twice in the first half of the Anfield tie and then on Saturday Juve were forced to come back from behind three times to get a 3-3 draw at Fiorentina in Serie A.
But Capello has taken Saturday's result as a positive sign of his team's spirit.
"When you come back three times that says something about a team -- it is a demonstration of your character," said the former AC Milan and Real Madrid coach.
Capello was without Brazilian midfielder Emerson and French striker David Trezeguet for the game at Florence -- both suffering from mild injuries but should be fit for Wednesday's game.
IMPRESSIVE ZLATAN
Given the impressive displays and goals against Fiorentina from Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alessandro Del Piero in attack, Capello may well start with Trezeguet on the bench.
The Juventus coach is also without midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi as he serves the second of his two-match suspension and Capello will probably ask Manuele Blasi to partner Emerson again in the centre of midfield.
French right-back Jonathan Zebina is also missing for Juventus with Gianluca Pessotto favourite to take over.
Liverpool's injuries are more serious with their influential England international midfielder and captain Steven Gerrard ruled out with a groin strain.
Gerrard picked up the strain in the final minutes of Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the English Premier League.
Liverpool's Spanish coach Rafael Benitez believes that result will have little bearing on Wednesday's game at the Delle Alpi stadium.
"Things will be different in Turin because it's another type of game," he said.
"We will be ready. In Champions League games we seem to have the right mentality," he added.
The first-leg saw an emotional attempt at reconciliation from Liverpool fans who called for friendship 20 years on from the Heysel stadium tragedy where 39, mainly Italian, fans died.
Such scenes are unlikely to be repeated at the Delle Alpi stadium on Wednesday with police taking extra measures to deal with the threat of possible revenge attacks.
© 2024 Rediff.com -