Season 1997/1998

Conclusions	Players	Matches	Goals
Summary sponsors	Squad Transfers Best Discoveries Disillusions	Best Worst Championship League	Important Catastrophic

And There's Nothing New Under the Sun...

Transfer policy of Juventus in summer of 1997 was not so active as a year before, therefore, as it seems to me, the club from Turin lost as in quantity so in a quality - it was lost more than recieved. Vieri and Boksic quitted the team, and Filippo Inzaghi, the best striker in Serie A in a season-97 was called to replace them, Jugovic and Lombardo left, and lonesome Napoli's leader Pecchia was brought on their place. One way or another, the tasks for the season were not changed - to take scudetto and Champions Cup - and the team had to resolve them.

"Juventus" opened his European season more vividly than a year before having smashed "Feyenoord" from Rotterdam. But after that Juve's play in the League faded. In the second lap Juventus lost the game in "Old Trafford". DelPiero scored on the first minute and that ball obviously made red devils mad, and then they controlled the game, having presented three balls to Peruzzi. Only in the 90th minute Zidane with marvellous kick made the score not so unpleasant. Italians looked better at the beginning and at the end of the match, but unfortunatelly englishmen were much stronger at the middle. In third lap Lippi's team with DelPiero's efforts got a hard victory 1:0 in Slovakia under "Koshice". The same score with Slovak champion was hold in "Delle Alpi" during two thirds of the match, when Lippi decided to alter the attack totally and immediately ate the fruits of the work - during five minutes (on the 59th and on the 61th) Amoruso and Fonseca forced the rival to begin the game from the field's center. It seemed that the game was done, but unexpectedly "Koshice" stole the advantage and scored twice. Bianco-neri hardly could save three points. By the way, those two balls became the only goals of "Koshice" in League's group tournament and it could not be considered as a big achievement of the italian champion - his game knew a better days. All worst premonitions were affirmed, when Juve was defeated on "De Quip" by "Feyenoord" 2:0 in the 5th lap. Before last match the situation of "Juventus" was critical - first place in group was got by "Manchester United", and italian champion had to become one of the two best second teams in the groups. Therefore, it was necessary to defeat Manchester and to hope for mishaps of the competitors - "Monaco" or "Bayer", "PSG" and "Rusenborg".

It seemed that all was against Old Signora. At first, Manchester, that had obtained the first place in group before, came in Turin with the best squad with obvious wish to rid off the dangerous competitor for Champions Cup already in the group tournament. At second, the life-and-death struggle Juventus had to play without two key players - DelPiero and Deschamps. At last, already in time of lap became clear the fact that the leaders of group F - "Monaco" and "Bayer", which had the equal quantity of points, wisely decided not to risk, played the draw 2:2 and having got for 13 points, both appeared in quarter-final. As a result, only one place remained for the teams from Paris, Turin and Tronhame. "Juventus" obtained the necessary victory in one of it's best matches in the season, but nothing was clear - "PSG" and "Rusenborg" before Inzaghi's goal were fighting for the right to pass to quarter-final. Juve's victory in Turin deprived the french team of any chances because it had the same number of points but the worst difference of the balls, but "Rusenborg" was leading under "Olympiakos" in Greece, and it meant that norwegian club would pass through the group tournament. And when it remained less than two minutes till the end of that game, yugoslavian midfield of the greek club Predrag Georgevic with strong kick saved his team from defeat and extricated italian champion from crush - finally Juventus got one point bigger than Rusenborg. "Thank you, Georgevic! It's you the real hero!" - wrote one of the italian newspapers.

Juventus got a good form to the match against Manchester and it also gave the results in Serie A, where Inter had been leading for a long time. The distance between Inter and Old Signora before the 13th lap consisted of four points - both teams lost none game but Juve played two draws more than Inter. But this lap became really unlucky for Milan's club - it visited unexpectedly placed on third position Udinese. More than that, Inter lost his leaders - Ronaldo was playing in national team, and the key midfields Moriero and Simeone were disqualified. The game was equal but none of the rivals could not target the goal. And when referee was ready to give a final whistle, Oliver Bierhoff put the ball with his head to the goal after thecross of Johnathan Baccini - "Internazionale" lost first game in the season. Meanwhile Juventus played in open football with "Empoli" 5:2 and almost chased the competitor. They had to play one-to-one in "Giuseppe Meazza" in the next lap. Both teams showed a good football two weeks later, but luck smiled to Inter which won thanks to the goal of Youry Jorkaeff and pulled away. In the days to come Marcello Lippi would recognize that exactly after that match he understood that his team was able to win scudetto - Juventus was not worser than Inter which was considered as league's favorit before the championship had started. And really, that defeat likelly compelled bianco-neri to play even better and, having won at the end of the first circle three matches of the three, they climbed the top after nerro-azouri had stumbled a few times.

"Juventus" started the second circle with victory, having defeated "Lecce" 2:0. But exactly in this game the event had befallen that could cost very much in the future - Ciro Ferrara, one of the two main central defenders, was injured hard and it was obvious that he had to miss the rest of the season. Juve played quite good three laps more but then decrease in game started - problems appeared as in defence so in attack. As the thunder in calm sky hammered the defeat 3:0 from Fiorentina, and then bianco-neri lost in "Delle Alpi" to Lazio 0:1 in Italian cup. Storms of criticism were cast on the team by mass-media and that caused Lippi's great indignation. "What are you writing and showing!" - he boiled. - "Why picture problems where they're absent! Juven's players are doing their best! And every team could loose. In sport, as said, noone can be undefeatable. We are not skulking - we are working!" I think that noone doubted that team was working but also it was clear that Juve's game appeared in crisis. It was threaten with big troubles not only in Serie A, where Inter was just behind the back, but also in Champions League quarter-finals, which had to be played against Dynamo Kyiv in close weeks. And if in championship more than ten laps were ahead, in european tournament every mistake could be fatal, and the team was far from optimal form. This fact was acknowledged with the last match in Serie A before first quarter-final against outsider "Bari AS", which was won only because of own Bari's goal. It is interesting, that exactly in this lap previous lap's sensation author "Fiorentina" got four balls from "Roma" and answered only with one. Confused coach of Florentian team Alberto Malesani wisely admitted on this case:"It is better to loose once with the difference in three balls than three times with the difference in one." I wonder, did Lippi think about this after fiasco in Florence?

The first match with Dynamo was hold in Turin and it showed that fans' and specialists' fears had backgrounds - alsough Juventus had advantage but was able only to equalize the score at the end of the match. Future prospects of Old Signora in Champions League looked gloomy and foggy as in the light of result of the first match so in the light of game's quality of Juventus itself and of Dynamo, which should play much better at home. "Nothing is lost. We shall play much sharper two weeks later." - Lippi did not agree with reporters in after-match conference. Followed two games in championship before the second quarter-final did not give much weight to his words. And if guest's draw with Udinese, which was fourth in tournament table then, might be considered as a good result, the draw 2:2 with "Napoli", the last team of Serie A, undoubtly became a mishap. It was bianco-neri's luck that Inter also was not glittering and even allowed roman "Lazio" to climb the second place. But more important match, than match against outsider, had to be played in Kyiv and promised to be more hard, and the question about Juve's ability to win was still opened. In spite of this Lippi remained untouched:"Let better "Dynamo" bother. We know how to get the win and we'll get it." Lippi was right. In the second quarter-final "Juventus" appeared those team which he had to be - 4:1 was more than necessary. "Juventus" was returning on his level of game. Already in the next match in Serie A he showed champion's will, having scored two goals and saved the game against "Parma" in "Ennio Tardini". The score was the same as with "Napoli", but was looked at in another way. And in the week to come "Milan" was crashed, and it allowed to speak about the end of Old Signora's crisis. It was quite intime - in Champions League semi-final "Monaco" already was waiting.

After match in "DelleAlpi" coach of "Manchester United" Alex Fergusson was impresed with Juve's game and said that he hoped to meet once more in League's final. He could hope for that, especially because a toss chose "Monaco" as a rival of his team, and french champion was considered to be a League's outsider. Alsough Fergusson constantly used to mention about foe's strength, it was obvious that he was sure of his victory and just tried to be polite. And hardly anybody gave attention to words of London Arsenal's and former Monaco's head coach Arsen Venger, which were understood as specialist's respect to his countrymen and which really appeared oracular:"I am surprised that "Monaco" is considered to be the outsider in League. I personally think that French players have the same chances as the English. "Monaco" is very good team which can create many problems to Manchester. Those, who think that it will pass through "Monaco" easilly, are mistaken. Probably, exactly monigasks will follow the struggle for Champions Cup." "Manchester United" and "Monaco" twice played in a draw, but to semi-final passed the team from the European capital of casinos beacause of the only goal which was scored on the rivals' field. "Juventus" had to play with such stubborn and ambitious opponent...

"Juventus" perfectly won the first game - 4:1. Faithfully, only one of four balls was scored by bianco-neri from the game - it did Zinnedin Zidane already at the end of the match. Other three goals were scored by DelPiero - two from penalty and one from free kick, and it made french players to blame russian arbeeter for their defeat. Well, why should we hide the truth, - at last, the first penalty appointed for breaking the rules against Zidane at the end of the first half seemed quite unprovoked... But in second match monegasks showed their strength, having won 3:2, and demonstrated such quality of the game that could allow them to pass throug Juve. That game by many specialists was considered as the best in that League, and many people, as the president of Inter Massimo Moratti, admitted that it is always possible to defeat Juventus if only to wish that very much. Moratti has weighty reasons to speak in such manner - his club, which was loosing to Old Signora one point in tournament table, in the 31th lap had to go to Turin and in case of victory Inter would climb the top for 3 games before the end of championship... Of course, Moratti wanted to see the weakness of Juventus very much, but he overlooked some factors that had acquitted Juve's defeat. At first, in Monaco Juventus played to defend the result and used 5 defenders, only two of which, for some reason, were central. Where the third wing defender had to play still buried in mystery for me. At second, Juventus played 70 minutes without Davids, which was threaten with disqualification and Lippi put him on the field only when it seemed to become very hot. At third, already in the 15th minute "Juventus" remained without Inzaghi whoose head was jnjured by Diavara, and in the 60th - without Zidane, whom Lippi apparently decided to preserve for the match with Inter, as the Deschamps and DiLivio which were absent in match at all.

So, as we can see, in Monte Carlo "Juventus" played with experimental squad and none conclusions might be made of Juve's real power on background of that match. The different picture was observed in "DelleAlpi" - all main players appeared on the field. Like in the first circle the result of the match was made by single goal, but this time it was scored by the club from Turin. And how scored! Davids from Juve's part of the field ran across the central circle and passed the ball to DelPiero, who dragged it through all the enemy's part to the goalkeeper's ground and sent the ball to the goal! At the second half of the game the event occured that lately became a purpose of hot discussions in italian parliament. Ronaldo charged into Juve's penalty zone where crashed into Juliano and fell as if he was blast with the thunder. Referee was not going to appoint a penalty kick, bianco-neri's defenders quickly sent the ball to Zidane and he penetrated milan's team's territory and crossed the ball into enemy's penalty ground to DelPiero, who decided not to be extraordinary and fell without further hesitation. And arbiter appointed penalty kick! But the Heavens, apparently, thought that it was too big piece of luck to Juventus and Pagliuca saved DelPiero's kick from the point. Really, it was quite interesting episode in the match. The moment when Penturicchio fall in nerro-azouri's penalty zone I remember very shadowy and can't be a judge for that, but I can acknowledge that the rules were not broken. But also they were not broken when Ronaldo fell! Fans of "Internazionale" claimed that Juliano blocked brazilian forward and it's pure truth. But the trick is that Mark stayed where he was when Ronaldo (whom in Slovakia, as I have learnt latterly, they call Pig-Dog. Why, I would like to know?.. :) ) RAMED ON MARK AND STUMBLED BY HIMSELF. And what, defender had to go out from his way? Yeah, may be he also should to put a carpet for him? Well, it was a great roar on that purpose , but after championship's end even Moratti recognized that Juventus was worth of scudetto. "Juventus is a great champion," - he said, because he perfectly knew that exactly his players were largely to blame for lost championship - "Inter" was able to play a "gold match" even after his scandalous defeat! The thing is that after the match in "DelleAlpi" the distance between Juve and Inter consisted of 4 points in Juve's favour and in the last three games of championship bianco-neri got another 5, that in the sum is 9 points of advantage, which "Inter" could annihilate with winning precisely that 3 games... But in difference with "Lazio" in 2000 :( , "Inter" in 1998 was not fighting till the end... In any case, the 25th scudetto Old Signora oficially got in the 33th lap, at home in match with "Bologna". Then in "DelleAlpi" the past and the present of "Juventus" struggled - Roberto Baggio with partners scored twice, but Inzaghi wanted to get a first trophy as fast as possible and scored for 3 times... Scudetto was defended and it was necessary now to get back to Turin a Champions Cup - League's final remained. But, as it is said, the last battle is the hardest one...

Many, if not all, before final appeared in Juventus' favour. It was beforehand obtained scudetto, and perfect game, and numerous forecasts. Even according to the reveiw of the spainish fans, which was hold by newspaper "El Mundo Deportivo", "Real" had tiny chances to win. What advantages had "Real"? Frankly speaking, none... Madrid's club with great efforts in the last lap of Primero got the right to play in UEFA Cup, the team was tortured with inner collisions and german specialist Youpp Heinkes did not try to hide that League's final would be the last for him as the head coach of "Real Madrid"... It seemed that "Juventus", somehow or another, would return Champions Cup to Turin, but who could know, that Champions League final would become one of the worst games of bianco-neri in the season?..

Players

Best

1, 2. Alessandro DelPiero, Zinnedine Zidane.
These two players were best during the season, as in Serie A so in Champions League, starting with Feyenoord's crash and finishing with semi-final in Mote Carlo. Unfortunatelly, they were only shades of themselves in one of the most important matches - Champions League's final. Well, they're also just people...

3. Filippo Inzaghi.
This forward was called to replace Vieri and solved the task quite good. Of course, he was not so strong as his predecessor, but was the same active in attack and this helped. A year before all the team of "Atalanta" played to assist him and as a result he became the best striker in Serie A. In "Juventus" he was just ordinary player among others and could not be so effective as in the 1997. Sometimes he just was lost on the field but when he found his game none foe could save it's goal from Pippo. So, enough to remember his hat-tricks to "Dynamo" in Kyiv, that brought Juve to League's semi-final, and to "Bologna" in Turin, that presented to Old Signora twenty fifth scudetto in her history.

Discoveries

1. Edgar Davids.
Deutch player came at the end of the first circle from "Milan" and at once became a player of the main squad. After Jugovic and Lombardo left Juve's number of midfields greatly decreased and it was not any change for the main player in case of injures. Close to winter it was understood that Juve's midfield needs a support. "We took Edgar because it was necessary to alter the midfield, to make it more strong, to create a good filter to support the attack. Davids was just what we needed!" - commented later Davids' transfer Roberto Bettega, vice-president of "Juventus". Of course, Davids was one of the "Ajax" leaders before but in uncalm "Milan" his play faded away (mostly in case of hard injure obtained in 97 in match against "Peruggia"), and it was unexpected that the Surinam-born kicker would demonstrate a good play. But Davids started to play perfectly and became one of the main players in midfield. Fortunatelly, "Milan" in that season did not take a part in Eurocups, so bianco-neri had a possibility to use Davids in Champions League.

2. Mark Juliano.
Mark perfectly recommended himself in previous season, having played a number of good matches, for example in "Old Trafford" or in Bergamo, where he scored the ball which brought to Juve the 24th scudetto. But he appeared at the first squad rarely in that season, only when one of the main central defenders was disqualified or injured. It would not be happyness in this season but unluck helped - Ciro Ferrara was injured hard in the 18th lap, having been lost till the end of the season, and Juliano was summoned to replace him, and did his job quite good. Ferrara, watching the matches from viewing stands and answering the questions about Juve's play, joked:"Defence worries a little - in this way they will dispense with my help!"

Disillusions

1. The main disillusion of this season was the play of the best kickers - DelPiero, Zidane and Inzaghi in Champions League final . It's unthinkable and ridiculous thing that all trio played so bad...

2. Fabio Pecchia.
Fabio was the leader of the midfield in "Napoli", but in "Juventus" he did not show the football that was expected from him. Pecchia did not glitter but also did not plucked the games at all, therefore it would be unfare to call this player as the main disillusion of the season.

Matches

Best

1. Juventus FC - Manchester United 1:0 (Inzaghi'85). 6th lap of Champions League group tournament.
This match answered the question to be or not to be Juve in Champions League. Disqualified Deschamps and DelPiero were replaced with Pecchia and Fonseca, who played rather wing midfield than forward, and all hopes in attack were connected with Inzaghi. "Juventus" controlled the situation in first half, having sent on Shmeichel's goal the hurraganes of attacks, and once only bar saved Manchester. In second time, while time was ticking out, "Juventus" was going forward more and more furiously, but red devils' counter-attacks were becoming more dangerous. Once Pecchia missed the empty goal, and another time only Peruzzi's marvellous game saved Juve, when he was left one-to-one with Cole. The wave character of the game ceased to be on 85th minute, when the combination Zidane-DiLivio-Zidane-Inzaghi was finished with the goal: Zidane cast DiLivio with the ball on the left side, and Angelo almost reached the border of the field and brought the ball back to Zizou, and french playmaker crossed to goalkeeper's zone, where Inzaghi was ready to score with his head.

2. FC Dynamo Kyyiv - Juventus FC 1:4 (Inzaghi'29'65'73, DelPiero'88). Second quarter-final of Champions League .
The score between Juventus and Dynamo after the match in Turin was 1:1. I was afraid that Old Signora would follow the ghastly fate of "Barcelona", "PSV" and "Newcastle", which were defeated exactly by Dynamo. It was obvious decrease in Juve's game at that time - he could not win during seven matches. Lippi commented that fact: "Let it worry Dynamo - we can't exist without victories for a long time!". Lippi knew what he was saying, and Juve's victory was more than convincing. Although italian champion had not so big advantage as the score finally showed, I admit this match not in purpose of score - this match demonstrated how team could get a necessary result after the serie of unsuccesseful games. Besides, two Inzaghi's goals were classical examples of corner's realizing.

3. Juventus FC - Feyenoord 5:1 (DelPiero'3'11, Inzaghi'34, Zidane'67, Birindelli'81). 1st lap of Champions League group tournament.
The game, which opened european season, became the most effective. Frankly speaking, even this score does not reflect the advantage that bianco-neri had. The only ball was scored by deutch team from penalty kick, that existed only in arbiter's imagination - DiLivio take the ball off the empty goal with the breast, and it was quite clearly seen on TV reverse, but referee had a different thought and not only adopted a penalty kick but also showed a red card to Angelo. In spite of this Juve scored once more.

4. Juventus FC - AC Milan 4:1 (DelPiero-2, Inzaghi-2). 27th lap of Italian championship.
Leaving winter's decrise in it's game, after victory under ukrainian "Dynamo", Old Signora smashed "Milan" with the same great score.

Worst

1. Real Madrid CF - Juventus FC 1:0 Mijatovic. Champions League final.
Juventus was cosidered as favourite of final by the biggest part of specialists. On the side of italian champion all the advantages were - tooled and accomplished game, forehand won inner championship, the absence of conflicts and injures in team... Spainish club had nothing of the kind, and even according to the reveiw of the spainish fans, which was hold by newspaper "El Mundo Deportivo", "Real" had tiny chances to win. But both of teams' coaches thought different. Lippi providently admitted that he did not considered Juve as favourite but also was not going to loose the second final through. Heinkes boldly claimed that specialists were mistaken and "Real" came to Amsterdam to win.
The match by itself disappointed. All expected from it the perfect game with plenty of dangerous moments, beautiful combinations and accomplished technical methods but witnessed the faded performance. During all the match star players were making mistakes, were breaking the rules and could not create the game in the centre of the field. All the attacking players of "Juventus" played especially unsuccessfully. Zinnedine Zidane now and then gave the ball to foes and could not target square of the Illgner's goal. DelPiero was noteless during the match, and the rare created moments near spainish goal were spoiled by Inzaghi. "Real" scored on the 67th minute - Roberto Carlos near the left corner of penalty zone took a pass from the right wing from Panucci and tightly kicked, the ball targeted Juliano's leg and bounced to Mijatovic, which tricked Peruzzi and sent the ball into empty goal. Here we must admit that episode was quite argumentative from the point of off-side, but it would be unfare to say that italian champion was worth of victory more than spainish.
"It was the worst game of "Juventus" since last year's defeat from "Borussia"," - said Zinnedine Zidane after the match. It was not at all precise to the game's quality, if we remember the crash from Fiorentina in the 22th lap of Serie A and that in Munchen Juventus played better than in Amsterdam, but it is precisely right as to the result - Champions League final was lost again... "Real used his chance and Juventus did not," - resumed Marcello Lippi.

2. AC Fiorentina - Juventus FC 3:0. 26th lap of Italian championship.
Undoubtly, crash in florentian's "Artemio Franci" is the worst game of championship. Alsough it did not cause serious changes in tournament table but all could be much worser. This defeat was exactly in time of winter's decrease in the game and in time of transformation in defence after Ferrara had been injured. If you ask me, I think that coaches had to do a great work to "repair" the team.

Serie A matches

Best five teams of Serie A

Scorers

Champions League Matches

Group tournament

Juventus FC - Feyenoord 5:1 (DelPiero'3'11, Inzaghi'34, Zidane'67, Birindelli'81).
Manchester United - Juventus FC 3:2 (DelPiero'1, Zidane'90).
Koshice - Juventus FC 0:1 (DelPiero'34).
Juventus - Koshice 3:2 (DelPiero'43, Amoruso'59, Fonseca'61).
Feyenoord - Juventus FC 2:0
Juventus FC - Manchester United 1:0 (Inzaghi'85).

Quarterfinal

Juventus FC - FC Dynamo Kyiv 1:1 (Inzaghi'70).
FC Dynamo Kyiv - Juventus FC 1:4. (Inzaghi'29'65'73, DelPiero'88).

Semifinal

Juventus FC - AS Monaco FC 4:1 (DelPiero'34'45(Ï)'62(Ï), Zidane'88).
AS Monaco FC - Juventus FC 3:2 (Amoruso'15, DelPiero'74).

Final

Real Madrid CF - Juventus FC 1:0

Goals

Most important

1. Juventus FC - FC Internazionale 1:0. DelPiero.
This goal made "Juventus" defeat "Inter" and, in fact, tapped the scales of champions race on Juve's side. Alsough in law Juventus got the scudetto two laps later in match with Bologna but on fact it was defended precisely in the match with nerro-azouri.

2. Juventus FC - Manchester United 1:0. Inzaghi'85.
This goal brought the victory under Manchester and opened to Juve the gates of Champions League quarter-final. If not this goal, Juventus would finish his european season.

3. AS Monaco FC - Juventus FC 3:2. DelPiero.
"Monaco" lost the first quarter-final 1:4 and, it seemed, had none chances to pass through. But "Juventus" in "Loui II" was represented with the squad far from optimal, plus monegasks showed iron will, and moments near Peruzzi's goal appeared one after another. To the 70th minute french champion lead with the score 2:1 an greatly opressed the italians, so it seemed that Monaco was able to score some balls more. And really on the 83th minute Shpehar with his head threw the ball to Peruzzi's goal. But before that on the 74th minute DelPiero scored, having kicked the flying ball, which had been sent from the right wing by Torricelli. According to the game's plot, this goal buried the hopes of Monaco to appear in final - they again needed to score four balls which looked as some kind of fiction. But if Penturiccio had not scored his goal, everything would possible to happen - monegasks played with great desire that night..

Catastrophic

1. Real Madrid CF - Juventus FC 1:0. Mijatovic.
Goal, which made Juventus to loose a Champions League final. Is anything needs to be added?

Squad

Sure players of the first team are colored with blue, players frequently represented in first team - with green, rare representsd - with white.

"Juventus" squad in season 1997/1998 (photo was made before second Champions League quarter-final in Kyyiv) From left to right: Upper row: Birindelli, Conte, Inzaghi, Juliano, Montero, Peruzzi Bottom row: Zidane, DelPiero, Deschamps, Davids, Pessotto

Transfers

Edgar Davids came, and Michael Padovano went away during the season.

sponsors

Technical	Official in Serie A	Official in Champions League

Conclusions

Mark: 10 (from 15)
Realisation of opportunities: 67%

Season of 1998 year became a reflection of the previous - national championship was won again and Champions League final was lost. It seems that results are the similar, but team's game changed, and first of all in attack. Possibly, after Davids, Inzaghi and Fonseca came, Juve's game appeared more graceful and technical but, undoubtly, lost former physical strength, symbolized by Vieri and Boksic, and Vialli before them. To tell the truth, as to the clear numbers, it only helped - in Serie A Juve scored for 16 balls more than in 1997.
Also it must be admitted that this season was not so successeful as previous - nothing was won in Europe. The trick of fate is that team-97 must be blamed for that as it had lost League's final and deprived the team-98 of chances to struggle for UEFA Supercup and Intercontinental Cup... As to the scudetto, we may say that it was morally more important from the point of view that it was got in struggle with Inter. In previous season Juventus was a favourite by himself, in season 97/98 the main challenger for scudetto was precisely Internazionale, which in summer created a new team from the stars and just perfect players. See, who defended black and blue colors - Ronaldo, Jorkaeff, Simeone, West, Moriero, Cauet, ZeElias, Kanu, Zamorano, Recoba, Javier Zanetti, Bergomi, Pagliuka!
Undoubtly, the absence of Ferrara in the second circle influenced Juve's game greatly. Alsough he said after final of the League that his presence would nothing change in it, but for sure Mijatovic would had not scored his goal in that way - remember, that exactly from Juliano, which had replaced Ferrara, the ball sprang to Real's forward. I do not want to blame Mark for that ball - it could spring from anyone, but the fact remains...