SquadraDelCuore

Padroni d'Italia

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:23:00 -0400

“It seems like it was yesterday that Juve won the 30th Scudetto” - the line that most of the Juventini were using to describe just how fast Juventus have come back to once again dominating the Italian football, like it has always been.

We have been through the purgatory of Serie B, to qualifying for Champions League and embarrassingly leaving the competition, to two seventh place finishes, to TWO CONSECUTIVE SCUDETTI! This, is what you get, for staying loyal to your club. Me, you, and everyone else that supported this great club during its worse times, know what exactly this Scudetto means. Not 29, not 31 …. its not about numbers anymore because either way - we have 11+ more Scudetti than them, and the possibility of them catching is not even there … it is in fact the first Scudetto that Gianluigi Buffon won as a Captain of this club.

The man who said NO to many European Top Clubs right after he had won the World Cup 2006, right after he had been relegated to Serie B.From World Champion to Serie B…. If you tell someone that story today, they’ll laugh at you…

Gigio, remains one of the main reasons that I as a fan, have always supported this club even through its worst periods. His personality which is unique and his bravery in his statements together with the outstanding talent that made him the best goalkeeper of the history, are rarely seen in sportsmen nowadays.

Without a champion like him, we wouldn’t be here where we already are, it is, as simple, as that!

I have loved, cheered and cried together with Buffon, the fans and the players, and will continue doing so because Juventus is the only thing that completes me. No matter how bad you are, in my eyes, you’re always the ideal lady of my life.

too much love!

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 20:24:05 -0400

too much love!

la-vecchia-signora: Inter - Juventus the team that defeated...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 20:23:00 -0400

la-vecchia-signora:

Inter - Juventus

the team that defeated inter.

“the blessing hug” - that of an idol! #pirlo...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 05:28:46 -0500

“the blessing hug” - that of an idol! #pirlo #marchisio #idolo #juventus

the team that conquered Scotland!

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:33:24 -0500

the team that conquered Scotland!

I LOVE THE MAN, TOO MUCH FOR WORDS! The great Claudio Marchisio!...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:32:52 -0500

I LOVE THE MAN, TOO MUCH FOR WORDS! The great Claudio Marchisio! Well done boy, well done! Finally getting the attention needed.

donbianconero: Haters gonna hate. A WORK OF ART! CAMPIONI...

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:25:51 -0400

donbianconero:

Haters gonna hate.

A WORK OF ART! CAMPIONI D’ITALIA!

in the light of recent events, I think I should remind everyone...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:44:09 -0400

in the light of recent events, I think I should remind everyone WHO RULES THIS!!!!

e sono dueeeeee, e sono dueeee!!!...

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 05:54:02 -0400

e sono dueeeeee, e sono dueeee!!! ETA-BETA-QUAGLIARELLA!!!!!

“O mamma mamma mamma, o mamma mamma mamma, sai perché mi batte il corazon? Ho visto QUAGLIARELLA, ho visto QUAGLIARELLA eh, mamma innamorato son!!!!!”

"Anyone who thinks this summer’s judicial proceedings might affect our season is seriously mistaken."

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:00:34 -0400

“Anyone who thinks this summer’s judicial proceedings might affect our season is seriously mistaken.”

- Andrea Agnelli

First trophy without our eternal Capitano, in 18 years....

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:08:33 -0400

First trophy without our eternal Capitano, in 18 years. Let’s just hope there are many more to follow. Forza Juventus.

Saying Arrivederci to Alessandro Del Piero - La Cosa Più Bella Che C'è

Wed, 23 May 2012 05:28:00 -0400

It was the 5th of May, 2011, when Alessandro Del Piero sat down next to Andrea Agnelli to put pen to paper, in what would be “Ale’s last year in a Juventus jersey”. We were all relaxed but obviously not aware of what that would actually mean a year later.

Transferred to Juventus in 1993, nicknamed by the Old Lady’s late president Gianni Agnelli as “Il Pinturicchio”, Del Piero made his debut with Juventus against Foggia, who went on to score his first goal for the team the next fixture against Reggiana. It was, only a brief window of opportunity for Del Piero when he could start going above and beyond his duty, and it seemed he fully benefited from it, as some weeks later he scored his first hat-trick with Juventus against Parma. His success in his debut season with Juventus continued as he scored 5 goals in 11 official matches.

Everything was obvious as the newly signed teenager, quite young but of a lot of promise, was determined to fight his way to the top of the heap and he meant to stay there.

Alessandro Del Piero went on to become the team’s captain holding the number 10 on his back after many other legends of the club like Platini did before him, and because of his versatility he managed to play in all of the positions in attack with many high regarded players of that time like Gianluca Vialli, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Zinedine Zidane to name a few. His knee injury (torn ACL) in 1998 left many of his admirers worried that he would never get back to his best playing form. He lived to tell the tale, unwilling to roll over and play dead, Alessandro didn’t disappoint. It was during this time when Pinturicchio had earned himself a new nickname by the fans “Il Fenomeno Vero”, the response to Inter’s Ronaldo who was nicknamed as “Fenomeno” by his fans.

“The fact is that there’s been a race between me and Ronaldo all season for the title of ‘phenomenon’. What I meant was that inside our stadium, Ronaldo doesn’t count for anything. As far as our fans are concerned, I’m the only one who counts; along with my teammates, obviously.” – Del Piero on winning the league in 1998.

And on winning “lo Scudetto” in 1998, Alessandro, and as humble as he is, he couldn’t hide the joy:

“It’s true, I feel like I’ve won the first battle between us two, But I certainly don’t think that it will end here with this season’s championship. Being matched against Ronaldo is something that makes me feel proud and something that makes me motivated as well.”

Able to breathe again, after Juventus had suffered a lot from his injury in 1998, the team and the management were sure that Alessandro Del Piero would surpass all of the “number 10’s” before him. It was his legacy that pushed Juventus forward to countless national and international trophies.

For all the 19 seasons that Ale would spend with the Bianconeri, he set records in all aspects of the game. He leaves Juventus as the all time leading top scorer with 289 goals, a record that was once held by the former Juventus President Giampiero Boniperti. Alessadndro Del Piero is the all time leading scorer for Juventus in all other important competitions as well, such as Champions League (45 goals), UEFA Competitions (53 goals), add to this, the most capped player in the history of Juventus (704 matches played), a record that was once written in the name of another Juventus legend – Gaetano Scirea (552 matches played).

Many other memorable moments have described Del Piero as the “one and only Captain” of Juventus, that even Ale himself, is aware of . His precious goal against Fiorentina in 1994, the lovely back-heel goal against Borussia Dortmund in the finals of the Champions League, the only goal against River Plate that would secure Juventus the Intercontinental Cup, the many of his trademark goals “alla Del Piero”, the most precious goal of his against Bari, his goal against Piacenza for Avvocato, the bicycle kick assist to David Trezeguet to secure the 28th Scudetto, the amazing free-kick against Inter in San Siro, and because there’s no end to this, it’s worth mentioning “the many standing ovations he has earned around the stadiums in the world”.

Still, after all that’s said and done, nothing of his contribution to make Juventus the most prestigious club in Europe today, matches his devotion to the “Old Lady” when relegated in Serie B, by the infamous scandal of Calciopoli.

“Un cavaliere non lascia mai una Signora.” – Alessandro Del Piero

It was in 2006, when his relationship with Juventus and especially the fans grew more important, as the fans around the world today love him to bits. As Juventus were entering the purgatory of Serie B, many of the key players left Torino, while Del Piero announced that he would stay and captain them in Serie B and help the team regain promotion, explaining how important this was for “the Agnelli family and the fans who truly deserve it”.

He continued with his usual success of becoming the capocannoniere in Serie B and as Juventus were crowned champions, Del Piero would become the top scorer in Serie A the next year as well, helping the team secure the Champions League place for the following season.

Six years of anguish and pain followed, and two seventh place finishes that meant no Champions League for Juventus as the team lost dominance and were easily turning to a complete mediocre team. Alessandro Del Piero spent an entire life, an entire career dedicated to the city of Turin and Juventus. His legacy will live forever in the history of the club. Many management changes and different coaches had taken over the team, but there was zero consistency and the winning mentality had all but gone. All that changed with the arrival of Antonio Conte as the head coach of the Bianconeri, and with a number of excellent buys during the transfer window, Juventus are the newly crowned “Campioni d’Italia”.

Nothing else did Alessandro Del Piero deserve on his last league fixture with the Juventus jersey, as after being substituted by coach Antonio Conte to earn a 20 minutes standing ovation that required him to take a walk around the stadium, with the Curva chanting on his name while crying “un Capitano, c’e solo un Capitano…”

Right under the bench, Gianluigi Buffon was sitting and watching in admiration how the fans applaud his teammate who later on said: “In the next 150 years there will not be anyone like Del Piero. I was moved”.

It was that time of the year, again, something that the Bianconeri fans have been seeing for 19 years, a legend, a bandiera of the team lifting trophies towards the sky, and for the eighth time of his career, the fans had the privilege of watching Alessandro Del Piero celebrate a Scudetto with the club.

Then, there could surely be no best way of saying “arrivederci” to one another (Del Piero, the club and the fans) given the fact that Juventus are now back on the top of their domestic league. Alessandro Del Piero, above all, is one of the few Juventus legends that have represented the Stile Juve – the philosophy of professionalism and hard work - throughout the years.

He is surely, a role model to follow for the many generations to come. Ravished with delight, I have sat in front of my TV and watched Del Piero grow old. It is something I have never even thought about but myself, him and those of you reading this piece are surely all terribly disappointed with Ale leaving, knowing that we are going to lose so much.

Alessandro Del Piero is a God when it comes to football and easily the most loved player in the great history of Juventus and to me, personally, second only to a father.

Grazie Capitano.

Grazie Ale.

Grazie di esistere…

“I’m happy that you have smiled, cheered, cried, sung, shouted for me and with me. No color will ever be brighter for me than black and white. You’ve made my dream come true. More than any other thing, today I just want to say THANK YOU. Always by your side”

Alessandro

Oh my God! Ale! La cosa più bella che c’e!

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:02:40 -0400

Oh my God! Ale! La cosa più bella che c’e!

We can never thank you enough, Mister. Grazie per tutto.

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:17:19 -0400

We can never thank you enough, Mister. Grazie per tutto.

"Being spoken about in the same breath as the likes of Bernardini, Capello and Lippi fills me with..."

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:03:51 -0400

“Being spoken about in the same breath as the likes of Bernardini, Capello and Lippi fills me with pride but it’s the players who go out & get results. If they achieve the ultimate triumph then we’ll go down in history. In the end there’s only one thing that counts: winning.”

- Antonio Conte (via iltifosi)

“Arturo, quando il gioco si fa duro …..”

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:47:33 -0400

“Arturo, quando il gioco si fa duro …..”

Juventus - Between Pain and Hope

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:59:23 -0400

In what was supposed to be an entertaining encounter between two clubs with a combined total of 38 Scudetti at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, these giants of Calcio failed to get the ball in the net during 90 minutes of action. A solid performance by Genoa who did well to defend deep and a predictable Juventus, who once again lacked the creativity and the final third to make their opponent pay.

Suspended and sitting in one of the Marassi’s commentary boxes, Antonio Conte didn’t seem to be missed him much, proving to once again that the team knows how to react well despite missing three of their regular defensive starters.

With Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci unavailable due to injury and suspension, the Bianconeri lined up with the South American duo, Caceres and Vidal, instead, and both did an excellent job of keeping Genoa’s strike force at bay.

However, the attack is the main problem of this unbeaten Juventus side. Led by Alessandro Matri, Mirko Vucinic and Simone Pepe, together this “MVP” has produced 19 from a total of 39 goals scored this season and one would immediately argue about how much of an impact the midfielders have had during the course of this season so far. To make matters worse, the three men up front have been disappointing when it comes to converting opportunities on goal and the lethal touch seems to be all but forgotten at times. Against Genoa, the Bianconeri had a staggering amount of shots – 30 in total, from which only an implausible five ended on target, a fact which deserves zero excuses.

Just four points behind the leaders AC Milan, lady luck was not smiling on the Old Lady as in the last six matches they have won only one and drawn the other five. With the exception of the performance against Chievo last week, which was arguably the worst of the season, the Bianconeri have been dominating especially in possession in almost every game so far, though the creativity and finishing in front of the goal remains an issue which today sees the club in trouble.

Add to this, the harsh refereeing calls against them during the course of the season, such as the scenes in Genoa on Sunday which saw the club call a media silence in protest at the refereeing decisions against the Bianconeri. For example the penalty appeal not given on Matri when he looked to be clearly pulled back by Carvalho, and the very evident goal by Pepe which was called wrongly offside.

You could get down to the nitty-gritty of refereeing decisions but as a fan, (while not completely ignoring the “discrimination by the officials” so to say), I would rather worry more about the performance of my own team and stop playing the blame game with the officials. It is rather painful to see such a determined team on the pitch that is all but incompetent in terms of finishing their chances, they spend so much effort against the minnows yet still only manage to secure a single point, which is a situation much more worrying compared to that of a denied penalty or a valid goal called off.

On the bright side of things, we should never forget the fact that Scudetto was never one of the objectives at the very start of this campaign, whereas today we stand here staring at the high probability of exceeding expectations and are only four points away from the current Serie A leaders. Practice what you preach, have faith, trust your coach, the espirit de corps is well in the team and sooner rather than later, the goals will hopefully appear. This, however, is a crucial year which will see the Bianconeri rest between pain and the hope of another tricolore in the name of Juventus.

… When times get hard and shit hits the fans, God...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:32:27 -0500

… When times get hard and shit hits the fans, God don’t walk with me, you carry me man …

… quando tocca a te !!!

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:38:49 -0500

… quando tocca a te !!!

RECAP: The Real Derby d'Italia

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:05:59 -0500

Sigh. Its over, finally. First we were impatiently waiting for it to start, now we just cant wait for it to get over. Over, as in the sense of - too much whining and bitching around after the real game has been whisteled off by Tagliavento.

This match, however, has proved me right for all the years I have been lobbying to make everyone believe that the clash between these two teams, Milan and Juventus, is the “REAL DERBY d’ITALIA” and besides many positives that have to come out of last night, the fact that I am finally proven right about my stance towards this derby, makes me happier.

In what has been a month of many controversial comments by both Juventus’ and Milan’s society, the clash between these very same sides took their comments and acts up to another level, unfortunately. And, it is reasonable to their own view for each side to have their own critiques and have an alibi against the opponent to defend their team but we could all come down to an agreement that the derby last night was totally decided by the bad or good (add your own Calciopoli line) officiating decisions.

1.ONE GOAL IS NOT MORE OR LESS IMPORTANT THAN ANOTHER GOAL

The assistant referee, Romagnoli, was the protagonist of the Milan-Juve derby. In a match where he disallowed two clear goals, both clubs and their fans today and for the rest of the years to come, will have their nervous system disorders worsened each day and more. The whole world agrees that Muntari’s goal was wrongly disallowed, but we all had to see the replays to make ourselves sure. The poor referee has no such option and his decision changed the whole game for the next 70 minutes.

On the second half, Matri, with the killer instinct he has, scored two goals out of two shots. Clynical. The first one, however, was AGAIN, wrongly disallowed, called offside by the SAME REFEREE, ROMAGNOLI. Surprised anyone? Referees, as in my view and I am 100% convinced of this, are always going to pay back for their past mistakes in the game. Romagnoli, proved me right.

Now, how is one goal more important than another? Pathetic. Last time I checked, one goal counts for ONE GOAL, not two. And as a matter of fact, one goal, counts for ONE GOAL, not two.

2.STOP ACTING NOSTRADAMUS-es

Everybody is giving predictions today, and make themselves so sure of what they say. How, and I mean, how on earth can you rule out one team if down 2-0 on the 20th minute already? Well its so true that Milan could have ended their first half on a 2-0 advantage, but could that change the rest of the game? ABSOLUTELY. It’s fair to say Milan would have been controlling the game till the very end, but on the other hand, it is not sportsmanship to totally rule out a Juventus side who are the definition of “fightback” and “hard-work” already. If one predicts that Milan would have been controlling the game, it’s fair to say that Juve would have made another sensational comeback, like the one against Napoli, where Conte’s men went down the tunnel with a 2-0 defeat at fist half. Even things out.

3. Stile Meelan

Many other actions could have seen the game end in a different way/result. I dont wanna become the very same Nostradamus myself but it is absolutely necessary to mention some of the overlooked situations of the match.

Van Bommel directly elbows Andrea Pirlo after the latter brilliantly fools him just outside of the box and Tagliavento was 2 meters away, but no foul given. It not only deserved a foul but an instant yellow, for sure. Van Bommel hits Vidal with his knee right on his head after he tackled him down already, escapes with no booking.

A cunt is forever a cunt. Mexes “rabbit punching” his former teammate Marco Borriello just seconds after the second half has started. An instant RED! We’ve seen Mexes doing this before, with his national team and all the clubs he played for.

Right. Now, how can a “fan” immediately bring up Calciopoli comments to Juventus’ fans about the whole match last night, when the AC Milan they cheer for was also involved in all of this Calciopoli tale? Arrogance. Ignorance. Stile Meelan.

4. 1-1 IS A FAIR RESULT, EITHER WAY YOU WANNA LOOK AT IT

Referee mistakes caused damages on both sides, and more or less they were equally harsh. After all, Milan were a completely different side last night, showing once again they are there for the Scudetto, but Juventus did the very same with a totally different line up and formation which also reflected that in the grinta we are used to seeing so far from an unbeaten side like the Bianoneri.

Thus, its only fair to say, the result couldnt get any better. A win for one or the other team, would have caused more controversies than there are at the moment.

5.CONTE LEARNED HIS LESSONS

When I was completely convinced of a 3-5-2 being superior to a 4-3-1-2, Allegri had something more to say about that. Or was it Conte’s naivete that made Juventus unable to react immediately?

The first half was dominated by Milan, and our 3 men defense never looked more shaky than last night. With Estigarribia unable to support, and Lichtsteiner who was also out of his best performance, Borriello and Quagliarella lost in the world, the 3-5-2 couldn’t look more wrong. Antonio Conte, is a wise man, and so far we have only heard wise words coming from his mouth. This time he went this far to even confess on his post match presser, saying: “The most wonderful thing about all this was the match itself. The rest needs to be improved by everyone, including myself.”

So, I conclude - no more 3-5-2 for the sake of Bonucci and obviously no more Borriello over our one and only capitano Alessandro Del Piero.

6. UNDEFEATED

This is the right time for all of the Bianconeri to feel proud when saying the word U-N-D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D. This Juventus, never succumbs. We are the masters of our own fate, we decide when we want to lose, draw or win.

LA STORIA SIAMO NOI. FINO ALLA FINE, FORZA JUVENTUS !