This week-end sees Juventus travel to Rome for a 1st versus 2nd clash with Lazio. Juve are above Lazio only on goal-difference going into the match (although Juventus have a game in hand). It’s a very interesting match between two big clubs who haven’t seen much success in recent years.
The 2006 Calciopoli (or the Italian refereeing scandal to you and me) hit Juventus hard. The club from Turin were found guilty of bribing Serie A referees and as a result they were stripped of their 2005 and 2006 titles and relegated to Serie B with a 9 point deduction. The club lost many of its key players, such as Gianluca Zambrotta, Patrick Vieira, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the FIFAWorld Player of the Year, 2006, Italian World Cup winning captain, Fabio Canovaro. They won promotion at the first attempt, but since regaining their cherished Serie A status, they’ve struggled to challenge for the title; finishing in 2nd and 3rd spot, but always quite far behind the champions. Last year they finished the season in 7th, 27 points behind champions Inter.
For Lazio, it’s been a far longer struggle. The Eagles haven’t won Serie A since 2000, when a side containing Pavel Nedved, Alessandro Nesta, Roberto Mancini, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Juan Sebastien Veron and Dejan Stankovic, managed by Swede Sven Goran Eriksson, pipped Juventus to the title on the final day of the season. Eriksson left and so did all the club’s star names, and with them went the success. Lazio have consistently finished outside the Champions League spots since 2001, whilst their bitter rivals Roma enjoyed the spoils of Champions League football.
This summer the two clubs had had enough and decided to splash the cash.
Lazio spent €25m on players, with the view to strengthening all areas of the pitch. €5.2m was spent on Italian international keeper Federico Marchetti, who’s impressed since his move from Cagliari. Their unreliable defence was sured up with the acquisitions of Stankevicius, Konko and Lulic. Lazio also needed strikers, particularly after letting star player Mauro Zarate go on loan to Inter. So they spent big on former Liverpool striker Djibril Cissé and picked up Miroslav Klose, one of Europe’s deadliest finishers over the past 10 years, on a free.
If Lazio’s spending was impressive, Juventus’ was staggering. The Turin outfit wanted a team that would look the part in their impressive new stadium. The Old Lady flashed the cash and spent over €85m on players. Eljero Elja, Andrea Pirlo, Stephen Lichsteiner, Fabio Quagliarella, Simone Pepe, Arturo Vidal and Mirko Vucinic, to name but a few. Such was the ambition shown by Juventus that they were even being linked with Kun Aguero and Javier Pastore. Juventus fans have always felt that their rightful place is at the top of the tree, and with these signings they thought they could once again be Kings of Italy.
So far the €85m gamble is paying off. Juve are unbeaten this season and leading the pack.
Manager Antonio Conti has helped reinvigorate the club. The Juventus legend was praised last season for leading Siena to promotion from Serie B, and now he’s got Juventus playing an elegant brand of attacking football. One of the keys to Juventus’ success has been the work of Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio. The two co-operate beautifully on the pitch to provide the players around them with an abundance of chances. Last season questions were being asked of Pirlo, now 32 years old, but he’s hit back since his move to Turin, and has been one of the stars of Serie A this season. With stylish Montenegran Mirko Vucinic tormenting full-backs on the left wing, and Pepe cutting in from the right wing, they have genuine goal-scoring threat from the wide positions.
Lazio’s style of play has been slightly different. Experienced manager Edoardo Reja has got Lazio organised. They play a high-energy game, built to get 1-0 or 2-1 victories. They don’t like getting stretched, but stay compact throughout the 90 minutes. The majority of their goals come from crosses into the box. Much like Pirlo, Miroslav Klose was the subject of much scrutiny last year as he scored just one league goal for Bayern Munich. However the German’s finishing is back to normal in the Italian capital; Klose’s netted 6 goals in 10 league appearances. Lazio’s most influential player isn’t a new boy. Brazilian midfielder Hernanes has been outstanding so far this season. His skill, flare and attacking style of play makes him a deadly weapon for Lazio. This squad’s also unified, as was demonstrated when they beat city-rivals Roma 2-1, then celebrated as though they’d just won the title.
There’s clearly a genuine feel-good factor at both clubs, which one would presume has contributed hugely to their early success this term.
Saturday promises a tactical battle between two confident teams. Despite Lazio’s strong, determined start to the season, I see Juventus leaving the Eternal City with all three points. Their cutting-edge and creativity should prove decisive against a Lazio team that have picked up more points away from home than they have at the Stadio Olympico this season. It promises to be a great game.
