Fabrizio Ravanelli is the special guest of the Juventus Club DOC Malta Cuore Bianconero as part of their celebrations for being named the most popular supporters club of the Italy champions outside the peninsula.
The towering striker, dubbed ‘Penna Bianca (White Feather)’ in recognition of his white hair, was pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome he received on his arrival yesterday.
“I would like to thank Juventus Club Cuore Bianconero for the excellent reception today,” the former Juventus striker said.
“This is the second time here and again I’m positively impressed on how beautiful this island is. I am planning to come back with my family in future.
“Really, I’m pleased to be given the opportunity to visit this club that is being managed by a very hard-working and passionate committee.
“They have done an excellent job these past few years as it is not easy to establish this organisation as the most popular Juve fans’ base outside Italy.
“Surely, that is the result of the huge passion and love that these people have for Juventus so I’m looking forward to spend the next couple of days with the Maltese Bianconeri.”
Last night, Ravanelli, who also played for England’s Middlesbrough, attended a gala dinner organised by the supporters club where hundreds of local Bianconeri fans were due to the attend.
Asked on Juve’s impressive run in the Serie A this season, Ravanelli said: “I think Juventus deserve credit as it’s not easy to recover from such a poor start and now the team is on the verge of a fifth successive Scudetto,” the 1996 Champions League winner remarked.
“However, one must also admit that Juve’s rivals this season all failed to perform.
“Roma only came to life 10 matches ago, Inter struggled badly after Christmas while Milan were never in contention. Napoli offered a decent challenge for the title but I think they are still short of Juve’s quality.”
Supporters club secretary Jean Borg thanked Ravanelli for accepting their invitation while thanking the club members for their key role to keep the place buzzing with activity.
“We are honoured to have a great player such as Fabrizio Ravanelli to join us for our celebrations,” Borg said.
“It’s a great feat for our club to be recognised as the biggest supporters club of Juventus outside Italy. We’ve only been around for four years. But this achievement would not have been possible without the backing and enthusiasm of our members.
“The latest information shows that we are 13th in the general list of the biggest and most active Juventus supporters clubs, with the top 12 all based in Italy. This recognition surely fills us with more motivation to keep growing in the coming years.”
At the end of the media conference at the Mrieħel base, Omar Busuttil, the supporters club president, gave Ravanelli a memento to commemorate his visit to the club and named him an honourable member.