Mon, May 21, 2007 - Page 19 News List

Juventus promoted back to Serie A

AP , MILAN, ITALY

Juventus beat Arezzo 5-1 in Serie B on Saturday to clinch promotion to Serie A, 10 months after being demoted and docked points in the Italian match-fixing scandal.

Alessandro Del Piero and Giorgio Chiellini each scored two goals for the Bianconeri and David Trezeguet added a fifth.

Antonio Floro Flores got Arezzo's goal in the 45th minute.

"We have shown once again that we are the strongest," Trezeguet said. "Now let's party."

Also on Saturday, Udinese beat a second-string AC Milan 3-2 in the penultimate round of the Serie A.

Juventus, which was penalized nine points and relegated in July last year, leads the second division with 82 points, 10 more than third-place Napoli with three games to go. Genoa is second with 74 points.

Juventus captain Del Piero opened the scoring in the 19th with a diagonal strike.

Chiellini made it 2-0, with the first of two headed goals, 15 minutes later. The defender scored again in the 49th.

Del Piero then headed in Marco Marchionni's pass for 4-1 in the 76th and Trezeguet completed the rout with a volley, three minutes from full time.

"I am very proud to have taken Juve back where it should be," said Didier Deschamps, who was appointed Bianconeri coach at the beginning of the season.

"It's right that we celebrate this promotion. It can't be compared with past successes but it has been a great achievement that will remain in the history [of the club]. It's also been an adventure on a human level," he said.

This was Juventus' first season outside Serie A, which it has won 27 times in the club's 110-year history.

The "Old Lady" of Italian soccer was sanctioned after former club officials were found to have tried to influence refereeing appointments.

The scandal caused a mass exodus of players from Juventus, including Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira.

Milan rested its regular starters ahead of Wednesday's Champions League final against Liverpool in Athens.

Paolo Barreto scored the winning goal in the 61st, profiting from a misunderstanding between Milan's third-choice goalkeeper Marco Storari and Leandro Grimi.

Udinese moved into a tie with Sampdoria for ninth place with 46 points. Milan stayed tied for third with Lazio with 61 points.

Inter Milan has already won Italy's top division with 93 points.

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