Juventus play host to last year’s Serie B champions U.S. Lecce on Sunday. Located in the most southern province of the Puglia region of Italy, Lecce does not enjoy an inspiring record against the Bianconeri. In all competitions, these two teams have played against each other thirty-four times, with the Salentini winning only three matches and drawing eight. Not inspiring indeed. However, as the saying goes ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’, so it’ll be important for Delneri’s men to come out swinging, hungry for all three points.
“The squad is large and I can be assured of whoever goes on to the field. We will be playing against Lecce who in the last two matches drew against Palermo and beat Catania and therefore it will be tough, but if the mentality is the same as that seen in the last two matches we can achieve good results. Every match is decisive. The match against Lecce will be so and then the one against Salzburg and after that the one against Bologna. Every time we must show we deserve the name of Juventus. We must not face a series of matches but one match at a time.” -Delneri
Certainly not many would disagree with Delneri on the fact that if we come out with the same mentality we showed in our last two matches, we have a very good chance of beating Lecce. According to footballitaliano.co.uk, the visitors have almost an entirely new defensive line-up and they lack a secure and reliable goalkeeper. Thus, they might have a very hard time with our attack that’s tied for first in Serie A with twelve goals. Meanwhile, Lecce and Juventus are tied for sixth place overall with eight points in six games.
Now in the press-conference ahead of this one, Delneri told us that Aquilani will be starting; an admission that really didn’t surprise many due to Alberto’s good form and his inability to play in Thursday’s Europa League match against Salzburg being cup-tied. Add Fabio Quagliarella to that list, and you have reason to believe the forward might start as well. However it has become very difficult to predict Delneri’s formations as of late, but although it’s frustrating for us fans, thankfully it’s equally as frustrating for our opponents. So, here are the call-ups.
The other thing Delneri spoke of at the press-conference was his focus on defeating Lecce with a more technical and less physical Juventus. That said, we’ll see if Del Piero gets the nod over the probably healthy Amauri in attack. In midfield, Delneri could do something that resembled the line-up against Inter with Marchisio starting wide left. However, Pepe could just as easily fill that role since he could provide more than enough cover for the young De Ceglie to roam forward seeing as there’s no Maicon to worry about.
Lecce’s coach, Luigi De Canio, might field a 4-3-3 formation with Tore Reginussen, Javier Chevanton, and Alberto Giuliatto ruled out. In midfield we should expect to see the ex-Juventino Ruben Olivera who signed a three year contract with Lecce on July 1st 2010, after having played the previous season in his native Uruguay with Club Atletico Penarol. He appeared in thirty-nine games for Juventus and scored four goals. Hopefully he won’t have the game of his life against his former club, a la Almiron. Check the comments below for any last minute updates, and live streams.
IERI... OGGI... DOMANI... SEMPRE JUVE!!!