Ranieri Talk

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Ranieri ends Scudetto hunt
Monday 21 January, 2008

Claudio Ranieri concedes that Juventus’ Scudetto hopes died with a draw against Sampdoria, but he remains delighted by his side’s campaign.

Despite a host of near misses, Juve were unable to break the deadlock against Sampdoria and fell 12 points behind leaders Inter after the Nerazzurri fortunate win over Parma.

While the target for the Old Lady has always been Champions League qualification rather than the title, Ranieri had been willing to dream about an unlikely Scudetto until now.

“There is real gap now and you couldn’t close it in six months or even a year,” the Bianconeri boss stated on Radio Anch’io Sport.

“You could say that we missed the train for the Scudetto, but in reality we just need to focus internally and build a base for next year.

“We are still having an amazing campaign. We had an exceptional first half and we hope to repeat it.

“I have always said that Juventus was hit by a calcio tsunami and we are rebuilding.

“You can’t always be winning and we need some patience as the sides that qualified for the Champions League a year ago are reaping the rewards.”