Antonio Conte... ‘great respect and preparation’.An especially daunting start to the 2013-14 Serie A season holds no fear for Juventus head coach Antonio Conte.
The Bianconeri will visit Sampdoria – the only side to beat the champions twice last season – on the opening day of the season before hosting Lazio and heading to San Siro for a northern derby clash with Inter.
City rivals Torino will vie for the bragging rights at the Stadio Olimpico in week six with Milan coming to the Juventus Stadium the following weekend ahead of a showdown with last year’s runners-up Napoli in early November.
Juventus took maximum points from the first three games of the 2012-13 campaign, in which they successfully retained a title won from Milan, and Conte does not see why that feat cannot be repeated with the correct match preparation.
He told juventus.com: “In reality in a competition like Serie A, where all the teams are highly prepared on a tactical level, talking about the calendar means very little.
“When you go out onto the pitch you don’t look at the names of your opponents, because you can get into trouble against everybody if you don’t go into games with great respect and preparation.”
This summer Conte has strengthened his squad significantly with the addition of strikers Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente, while Italy international defender Angelo Ogbonna has arrived from Torino.
While their resolve to win a third straight Scudetto may be high, director general Beppe Marotta knows clubs like Napoli and Milan, in parti-cular, along with Inter, Lazio, Roma and Fiorentina will be more determined than ever to capitalise on any slip-ups and depose the ‘Old Lady’.
“It’s certainly not an easy start, but it’s important to test ourselves straight away,” Marotta told Gazzetta.it yesterday.
“Our rivals will be more motivated now and we must not allow ourselves to become content.
“We want to win the league title again next season and to do that we have to pass a lot of tough tests, just like the start that awaits us.”