Juventus melt in Malta
Wednesday 9 January, 2008
Juventus have lost their first match of 2008 on penalties against local side Valletta in Malta.
The Bianconeri have been in Malta this week for a winter training camp and hoped to end the spell with a morale-boosting victory.
However, they fell 5-4 on penalties to Valletta this evening. Cristian Molinaro and Alessandro Del Piero hit the side-netting before Ruben Olivera was allowed a free header from Pavel Nedved’s cross.
On the stroke of half-time Valletta equalised as Monosterolo pounced on a poor Giorgio Chiellini clearance.
David Trezeguet had a goal disallowed for offside, while Raffaele Palladino and Vincenzo Iaquinta wasted clear-cut chances and Tiago Mendes’ effort was beaten away.
Juventus visibly ran out of steam in the closing stages of the match and held on for a shoot-out, but Antonio Nocerino missed and Nicola Legrottaglie’s spot-kick was saved.
“We had a good training session today and it was important that nobody picked up any injuries,” noted Claudio Ranieri.
“I didn’t want to let the Valletta fans have this moment of joy, but I accept the defeat. We made a mistake with their goal and were unable to make the most of some excellent opportunities after the restart. We are still a bit green, but can now focus on Saturday.”
Juventus: Buffon; Birindelli, Grygera, Chiellini, Molinaro; Marchionni, Almiron, Zanetti, Nedved; Del Piero, Olivera
Substitutes used: Belardi, Boumsong, Legrottaglie, Salihamidzic, Nocerino, Tiago, Palladino, Trezeguet, Iaquinta.
(channel4)
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