Meeting Between Platini And The Serie A Executives

The meeting arranged by Figc between Serie A teams’ executives and the Uefa President Michel Platini took place yesterday afternoon at the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Rome. They addressed several matters: from the financial fair play to the initiatives against violence, racism and corruption, from the future of European competitions to the Uefa strategies in view of the next four years presidency (2011 - 2015) for which Platini is the only candidate. Juventus President Andrea Agnelli and MD-sports GM Giuseppe Marotta attended the meeting.

After the conference, the latter spoke to media about Juventus condition and targets: «The title? Football is so changeable, but our main object is to qualify for the next Champions League, as already stated at the beginning of this season. Actually, it depends on our opponents’ progress, not only on our squad. The championship is still quite balanced. The difference consists in crucial scorers and, unfortunately, we suffered from many injuries, like that occurred to Fabio Quagliarella. Intervening in the transfer market? We won’t just go through the motions of doing operations, even because now there are no important names suitable for Juventus».
Asked about Del Piero’s contract renewal, Marotta responded that: «Alessandro is a real legend in Juventus, a serious professional who earned the club’s and supporters’ respect. We will deal with this topic as soon as possible».
Finally, about Calciopoli, he said that: «Juventus rely on sports justice. We hope that a deep and accurate verification of the events could be carried out, because there is still a vague situation. We also hope that the solution will be achieved quite quickly».

@Juventus.com

Kiko To Sampdoria

Federico Macheda is on the verge of joining Sampdoria on loan for the remainder of the season, despite Manchester United making it clear they would prefer a Premier League move.Il Secolo XIX claims the striker has chosen to play for Samp just 24 hours after Sir Alex Ferguson said he "hopes Macheda will stay in the Premier League".

The 19-year-old Italian striker has started just two games for United this season, and Old Trafford chiefs believes a loan move would benefit him.

Reports in England though suggested a hoard of Premier League sides want him, but Sampdoria believe he is the one to fill the void left by Antonio Cassano following his move to Milan.

And, his agent Giovanni Bia has now confirmed the United youngster will be playing at Marassi with the move pending official status after agreeing terms with 'Doria."Macheda to Sampdoria? Lets say that just an official note is missing," Bia told Sky Sport Italia.

"We are just missing the traditional exchange of faxes, but we are almost there.

"We hope to close everything by tonight and Federico could be available by Sunday. The idea is a loan until June."


@Goal.com

CL Draw;Boss welcomes French Test

United faces Olympique Marseille...
The Reds will travel to Stade Velodrome on Wednesday 23 February 2011 and then entertain the French champions at Old Trafford on Tuesday 15 March. And while some United fans may be happy to have avoided the Italian giants in the draw, including European Cup holders Internazionale, the United boss believes Marseille will make tricky opponents.

Giving his immediate reaction to MUTV, Sir Alex said: "Everyone thought we might get one of the Milan sides because we’ve faced them quite a few times in the last few years, but we got Marseille in the draw rehearsal and it proved right.
"Marseille are a handful at their own ground, their fantastic atmosphere and incredible support guarantees that. They’ve had a good change in fortunes in the last two or three years, after a dry spell, and think it’ll be a difficult tie."
Although United haven't faced Marseille for more than a decade, there are some familiar faces in the opposition camp.
"[Former Chelsea midfielder] Didier Deschamps is the coach there," said the boss, "and they've got one of our old players in Gabriel Heinze so it’ll be nice to see him."
Sir Alex said of the previous meetings in 1999/2000: "I remember the games well. We won 2-1 at Old Trafford, but lost 1-0 over there when William Gallas scored for them. It wasn’t a good performance from us that night."

As for the rest of the last-16 draw, the manager commented: "Quite a lot of people predicted Arsenal against Barcelona and that’s the most interesting tie.
"Chelsea go to Copenhagen and should get through that one. It’ll be interesting to see Milan and Spurs and also Inter and Bayern Munich – a repeat of last season’s final. So there are some nice ties there and hopefully we can navigate ours."






.

Moggi :"Inter Reduced To Smoking Rubble"

Inter have been reduced to smoking rubble, torched by Rafael Benitez who has destroyed an empire built by Jose Mourinho, and not even a new wave of Calciopoli will be enough to douse the flames, claims Luciano Moggi.

"Inter are finished. Their credit, obtained from Calciopoli has ran out," Moggi told Gold TV.
"And for sure [Massimo] Moratti caused it by replacing Mourinho with Benitez - the complete opposite.
"The team has turned from being a warship to a weak mob.
"To win again Moratti will probably need a new Calciopoli..."
And with Inter charred, if not completely burnt, Juventus, Milan and Roma will feed off the scraps.
"In Italy the team who has Zlatan Ibrahimovic always wins," Moggi added.
"I wonder if [Arrigo] Sacchi still thinks Milan made an error by signing him.
"As for Roma, they are out of the crisis and they have reaquired self-esteem. Now they can return to being great again.
"Juventus? They deserved to beat Genoa and are doing well, but thinking about the Scudetto would be an illusion for the fans."



 
@goal.com

Kiko On Target For Italy Under-21

united youngster bagged a double against Turkey under 21 side.Given the chance from the starting whistle ,Kiko Macheda was impressive again and wrapped up a delightful week after scoring in hard-fought 2-2 draw    against Aston Villa.

Tragedy of A Ridiculous Man

Primo (Ugo Tognazzi) owns a cheese factory in northern Italy. His bourgeois life is upended when his son Giovanni (Riki Tognazzi) is kidnapped by terrorists. Suddenly everything Primo has worked to achieve is up for grabs. The context of his life is switched, and he is hostage to events and mysteries he cannot control.

The police chief thinks that Giovanni has orchestrated his own disappearance in order to extract money from his father for left-wing anarchists. Maybe he is right. In order to meet the ransom demand, Primo must close his factory. His French wife (Anouk Aimee), his son's girlfriend (Laura Morante), and a worker-priest (Victor Cavallo) toy with him when he later tries to turn the tragedy into a triumph.

Director Bertolucci makes the ending into a puzzle and challenges the audience to see meaning in this modern day parable about "a son who dies and is reborn." The film works on in its own odd way as a political meditation on the generation gap and the "instability of the stations of men."

by : Fredric & Mary Ann Brussat

Agnelli's letter to Juve fans

This first part of the season has often been accompanied by controversy, opinions and in some cases proper attacks on Juventus and its history. In a few hours time the curtain will rise on a match which has always played an important part in the history of football. It is a history for us Juventini made of passion and very often victories which were always achieved with merit on the field. 

The chit chat of recent months contributed to the raising of voices, often mixing the roles. It is time to think of the present. 

It is a time in which the shareholders and the management are on the one side busy safeguarding and defending the club’s colours everywhere, with the right instruments and in the most correct and transparent way, and on the other hand are concentrating everyday in order to put the players in a condition to offer a performance of a level which suits Juventus. 

It is a time in which the supporters, with a sense of responsibility higher than that of certain managers, are supporting their team even in difficult moments, without falling to useless exaggerations and violence that would stain the joint effort of all those who have Juventus at heart: footballers, coaches, directors, employees and millions of supporters. 

It is a time which has lasted 113 years and which will continue even after these 90 minutes during which we will have to be loyal supporters in order to get back to our work: Juventus will continue to do so in all the competent places so as to assure that the reasons of everyone are heard and evaluated with dignity.

Forza Juve 
Andrea Agnelli

Agnelli : All expected

It was the first management meeting which was held at the construction site of the new stadium, in the offices of the works directors and was the opportunity to show the board members the state of the works. 

Andrea Agnelli, at the end of the management meeting met the journalists: «Here you are seeing the Juve of the future – said the President - . Today we visited the construction site together with the board members. We can say that this is the first day in the life of the new stadium, an avant-garde stadium, on the level of the main European teams, open 7 days a week. In Italy we are the first club to reach such an objective». 

The President then spoke of football: «The present situation is how I expected it to be. We knew some time would be necessary, a few months are needed for the sports project to take off. The squad is not under discussion. We based ourselves on young players and therefore it is normal that they have less experience but we must give them time». 

Agnelli has no doubts with regards to what the team needs to find: «The team is conscious of the quality  and must simply find consistency. There is harmony. It can be seen that a group is being created. This can be understood from many things, including the fact that even yesterday the team fought till the very end and then went towards the stands to receive the applause of the supporters: it is a sign that they want to return to being Juve». The final comment is dedicated to the supporters:  «They understood what has been done in recent months, they understand that the lads are living through a transformation and must amalgamate besides seeing that they are running on the field».

Byron Moreno Arrested !

Controversial former referee Byron Moreno, who was at the centre of the 2002 World Cup refereeing scandal, has been arrested at John F. Kennedy airport, New York, for allegedly being in possession of six kilograms of heroin.

Moreno had the drug concealed in his underwear as he passed through security, according to Cre.com.ec andRainews.

The Ecuadorian is best remembered for refereeing the infamous second round game at the 2002 World Cup between co-hosts South Korea and Italy.

The 2002 competition has gone down in infamy due to the huge number of refereeing mistakes that helped eliminate a string of top nations, and also ensured that Korea made it all the way to the semi-finals.
During their final two group games against Croatia and Mexico, Italy had four perfectly good goals disallowed, but somehow managed to scrape through to the second round where they met South Korea. Against Guus Hiddink’s men, Moreno chalked off another valid Italy goal, a golden goal from Damiano Tommasi which would have taken them to the next round. Francesco Totti was sent off for diving when replays suggested he had lost his footing, while the Koreans - who repeatedly went unpunished for apparent foul play - were awarded a controversial penalty for a Christian Panucci tugging offence. Italy eventually lost after Ahn Jung-Hwan’s golden winner, but the match and Moreno represent a black mark in Italian sport.

Moreno would later that year receive a 20 match ban after he played an extra 13 minutes of stoppage time during an Ecuadorian league match between Deportiva Universita de Quito and Barcelona Sporting Club. During this time Deportiva scored twice to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 victory. After retuning from his suspension, Moreno was suspended again after controversially sending off three players in one match. He retired from officiating shortly after.

Today's events will undoubtedly hit the headlines all over Italy.


by : Rick D'Andrea @ Goal.com

Pinzolo Feast For Juve

It was a great feast, with all in Pinzolo in Piazza San Giacomo to express their love for Juventus. The presentation of the team to the supporters was a great success. The event, transmitted live on Juventus Channel reached its climax at 21:45hrs, when the bianconeri took the stage. As from 19:00hrs the square was animated with activities and games that involved all the children of the Soccer School and the Val Rendena football nurseries. At 21:00hrs, Dj Nanà and Valerio Ciardello presented Paolo Belli, an avid Juve supporter, who with his band sang the Juventus official song and over half an hour of other numbers with a strong Juventus connection. 

The concert came to an end with the arrival of the team and the public overjoyed. The first to take the stage was the General Director for Sport Affairs Giuseppe Marotta who was welcomed with a great roar of enthusiasm: «I thank Pinzolo for the magnificent hospitality – said Marotta. I promise the supporters the maximum commitment in order for Juve to return to being the great team that has always left its mark in the world. The team is made up of new signings and champions who wrote the history of this club and this, together with the new coach is the guarantee of being able to seek important results».

After the kit managers and the technical staff, it was the turn of coach Del Neri: «I am happy to see such enthusiasm and it is right that we give the maximum everyday. We want to return to being protagonists. I believe that union between the team and the supporters is fundamental and together we can do well». 

Next on stage were the players. First the goalkeepers with Marco Storari who said he is : «happy with the splendid welcome received». It was Marco Motta who spoke in then name of the supporters and said he would be asking for jersey number 2: «It is an important jersey and I hope I can show that I am worthy of it on the field». Jorge Martinez, the spokesman of the midfielders seemed very emotional: «There are so many of you – he told those present. I am not used to this and I promise I will always give the maximum in every match». 

Finally, to speak in the name of the attackers, it could not have been but captain Del Piero, who literally threw the public into delirium: «Thank you all for being here and for the affection you are showing us everyday. We need this enthusiasm and this energy and we hope to be able to pay you back as soon as possible during this season».

With the presentation having come to an end, and after the authorities represented by the Province Councillor for Tourism and agriculture Tiziano Mellarini, Pinzolo mayor William Bonomi and Toursim Industry President of Pinzolo, Madonna di Campiglio and Val Rendena Marco Maseè, the children who won the tournaments held in the afternoon were called on stage. They received their prizes from Alessandro Del Piero thus living an unforgettable moment, just like all the supporters present in the square. The final message came from Marotta: «I end this evening by sending you the message given recently by our president Andrea Agnelli: through humility and daily work every result can be achieved».

The Conformist : My Highlights

"....Mediocre,
A mound of petty ideas,
Full of petty ambitions,
I intend to construct my normality "