Juventus is used to playing against AC Milan, Inter Milan and Roma in front of big crowds and with the topflight league title at stake.
What a comedown yesterday, then, when the disgraced Turin powerhouse was due to play its first ever match in the second division in front of a small crowd in the eastern seaside resort of Rimini.
It marked the start of a tough campaign to return to Serie A and leave behind the match-fixing scandal that resulted in the club's demotion.
"We have the right spirit to face a long season. We will do everything to return immediately to Serie A," new Juve coach Didier Deschamps said.
Juventus starts 17 points behind most of the other teams before a ball has been kicked due to a penalty received in the scandal. Making the task even harder, many teams are likely to save their best for Juventus.
"Against [Juventus] everybody will double their strength. And Rimini looks ready," Sampdoria coach Walter Novellino said.
A sports tribunal ruling in July relegated Juventus and stripped it of its last two league titles for its leading role in the scandal. The club -- which had won 27 previous league titles and two European Cups -- has appealed to the Italian Olympic Committee and hopes to have the 17-point penalty reduced.
Deschamps believes the team will succeed this season because, after all, "Juve is always Juve."
Last month, Juventus was eliminated from the Italian Cup, losing on penalties to second division Napoli in the third round after a 3-3 draw. Other strong contenders in Serie B include Genoa and Bologna.
Rimini playmaker Adrian Ricchiuti promised to attack Juve.
"Everybody has a weak spot," the Argentine midfielder told Italian news agency ANSA on Friday. Ricchiuti scored 25 goals over the past two seasons for Rimini, which finished 17th last season in Serie B.
Hundreds of fans spent Wednesday night camped out in tents and sleeping bags in front of Rimini's Romeo Neri stadium waiting for the box office to open in the morning. The small stadium seats less than 10,000, and tickets sold out quickly.
Such scenes may be repeated in coming months across other small Italian towns as Juventus tours many small stadiums during its first season in Serie B in more than a century of history.
Juventus is missing half of last season's starting lineup after the scandal led to a mass exodus, with Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, Emerson, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all leaving Turin.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, midfielders Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi, and forwards Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, remain. Trezeguet was out of yesterday's match with an injury.
Juve played its home games last season in the 67,000-seat Stadio Delle Alpi, but has moved to 27,000 seat Turin's Stadio Olimpico during renovation.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RSS