Del Piero faces Real test

One player to draw attention most in tonight's crunch match between Juventus and Real Madrid in Turin is Alessandro Del Piero.

Despite starting some games on the substitutes' bench at the beginning of the year, Del Piero has looked like his old self again in recent outings... but doubts remain if tonight he will rise to the occasion and help Juventus oust Real Madrid to make it into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Del Piero is a player who has always divided the public opinion. Some view him as indispensable for Juve and the national team. Others contend that Del Piero is a good player but not the genuine star who can win a game for his team single-handed. The latter base their opinion on the fact that the Juve skipper has seldom been decisive in the games that counted most. Without doubt, this debate will rage on this week.

Tonight Fabio Capello's side have to do without their schemer Pavel Nedved, who is still out nursing an injury. Following their 0-1 defeat in Madrid, Juventus have to win by two clear goals to qualify... no mean feat for a side that has stuttered on many an occasion since the turn of the new year.

Against Real's hard-pressing midfield and defence in the first leg, Del Piero never seemed to have quite enough time on the ball. By stark contrast, Nedved is a more explosive player.

The former Czech international's quick-thinking is a threat to any defence. He can hit the target with impressive speed and, certainly, if there is a player who could win the tie for Juventus, then that player is Nedved.

Del Piero's game could also be hampered as, in all probability, everything will revolve around him against Real because, apart from Nedved and Mauro German Camoranesi, Juventus do not possess an abundance of players who have the same kind of penetrating skills.

This is the main reason why the Turin side were so poor in their build-ups in the first leg.

Of course, the clash will be a different story from the one played at the Bernabeu stadium a fortnight ago. Juventus have to do all the running... unlike the first leg, they cannot afford not to score.

Facing the Spanish giants in front of a rare sell-out crowd at the Delle Alpi stadium, Juve have to play the game of their lives.

Referring to recent encounters between these two clubs, one finds that in 1995/96 Juventus did manage to eliminate Real Madrid from the Champions League after they had lost the first leg 1-0 in Madrid.

That year, Juve, under the charge of Marcello Lippi, were in superb form in the second leg as they scored a goal in each half (Padovano and Del Piero) to demolish the Madrilenos and book a place in the semi-finals.

Del Piero was again among the goalscorers in May 2003 when Juventus ousted Real on their way to the 2003 Champions League final.

The only sad note for Del Piero and Juventus in recent encounters with Real came in 1998, when the Spaniards edged the Italians in the European Cup final with a Predrag Mijatovic goal.

Del Piero will surely remember that match as an injury he sustained during the final practically ruined his team's chances. Many think that the same injury was also the main reason why Del Piero performed so poorly in the 1998 World Cup.

Real represent a daunting task for Del Piero and Juventus. However, if there is a team capable of matching Real's qualities then that team is Juventus.

In recent past, Juventus used to win the admiration of many soccer lovers for their unique way of coming out of adverse situations with flying colours. Their sheer resolve to win games and refusal to throw in the towel in tight situations make Juve a good bet tonight.

Serie A statistics

3rd win for Fiorentina in as many home clashes with Reggina as they extended their unbeaten home run to three games and moved further away from the relegation zone. For Walter Mazzarri's side this was their third defeat in their last four outings. Carlo Mazzone's injury-plagued Bologna created the biggest surprise of the weekend when they conquered Udinese's Friuli stadium for the second season running. Bologna scored after barely four minutes had elapsed. From then onwards, it was one-way traffic as Udinese went all out in search of an equaliser, which for one reason or another did not arrive. This defeat - Udinese's fourth home setback so far - further dented their chances of mounting a serious challenge to a Champions League berth.

4th consecutive defeat (vs Lecce 0-3, Lazio 0-1, Reggina 0-1 and Sampdoria 0-1) for crisis-hit Chievo as they were floored by a late Andrea Gasbarroni fortuitous strike for Sampdoria. At the Luigi Ferraris stadium, the hosts were not up to their best but were still good enough to cruise to their third straight win which left them in firm contention for a Champions League berth. In an isolated attack, Chievo were awarded a penalty which was missed by captain Lorenzo D'Anna. When the game seemed heading to a draw, Samp hit a late winner to beat Chievo for the second season running. For the record, Chievo never won a match at the Marassi. Inter, too, left it late to beat mid-table Lecce at San Siro. The visitors took an early lead but those who thought that the southerners were on their way to their second victory in 11 Serie A visits to Milan was proved wrong as Inter made a strong comeback. Inter, unbeaten at home since going down to Brescia (3-1) on February 29, 2004, had most of the play but Lecce resisted well until Adriano's last-gasp penalty goal which condemned Zdenek Zeman's side to their third straight away defeat.

6th straight win for Milan who needed an Andrea Pirlo goal deep into injury time to edge bottom side Atalanta in Bergamo. Milan were not impressive at all. The champions were static and lacked cohesion up front. But Milan's biggest asset at this stage of the season is proving to be their determination and willpower to win matches even on their off days. On Saturday, Juventus remained on course for the scudetto with a precious away win at Roma. From the outset, the hosts looked determined to seek revenge against former coach Fabio Capello and players Emerson and Jonathan Zebina. Blunders committed by the match officials did not help to calm down the players. The result was an infinite number of fouls and very limited time to play. Thanks to this victory, Juve remained level on points with Milan with only 11 games to go. Like Milan, Parma, too, scored inside the last minute of injury time to beat Cagliari at home. Almost 50 years went by since Cagliari's latest of two wins in 22 league visits to Parma (2-1 in Serie B).

17 years had to pass for Messina to return to winning ways against Lazio at their Giovanni Celeste stadium. For the record, Messina and Lazio have never shared the spoils in eight league meetings. In a vital end-to-end clash, Siena succumbed to their second consecutive defeat as they went down at home to Brescia for the second season running. Siena's most recent of four wins in six home league meetings with Brescia dates back to November 22, 1942 (2-1 in Serie B).

29 goals were scored on the 27th day: 15 coming from the hosts and the remaining 14 from the visitors. Foreigners contributed with only six goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 662. Palermo's Luca Toni grabbed the only brace of the weekend. No hat-tricks were registered. Parma defender Daniele Bonera committed the only own goal of the day. Six players - Gasbarroni (Sampdoria), Suazo (Cagliari), Maccarone (Siena), Lucarelli (Livorno), Ambrosini (Milan) and Colucci (Reggina) - came on as substitutes and scored. Four penalties were awarded by referees in the past weekend. Alessandro Del Piero scored the winner from the spot for Juventus in their 2-1 victory against Roma. Similarly, by converting a late penalty, Fabrizio Miccoli and Adriano gave Fiorentina and Inter identical 2-1 home victories against Reggina and Lecce respectively. Lorenzo D'Anna ably converted his first attempt from the 11 metres but referee Dondarini ordered him to repeat his execution due to an infringement at the time of taking the penalty. When the Chievo defender took the penalty again, his attempt was saved by Sampdoria's Francesco Antonioli. Despite the fact that the same infringement happened again at the time of the second execution, the referee did not order a repeat. Meanwhile, four players, namely Sebastian Frey (Parma), Christian Zaccardo (Palermo), John Mensah (Chievo) and Igor Tudor (Siena) - received marching orders.