Claudio Ranieri stays the course with Juventus

24 February 2009 23:34
But the rebuilding has gone far beyond the tinkering for which for the genial 57-year-old is known to become a root-and-branch revolution, expunging the club's worst taints of calciopoli, the match-fixing scandal that only three years ago had threatened to bring the Old Lady of Turin to her knees.[LNB]Evidence of the revival can be detected not only in Juventus's league elevation, their consignment to the Serie B wilderness followed with almost indecent haste by a rise to second to Serie A, nor simply in the Agnelli family's commitment of more of their vast fortune to a 40,000-seat arena soon to replace the ancient Stadio delle Alpi.[LNB]The implausible rebirth is reflected in the stories of those players whom Ranieri is trusting at Stamford Bridge tonight. Take Olof Mellberg, acquired on a free transfer from Aston Villa to negotiate Juventus's grim life in the second tier, or midfielder Momo Sissoko, a relative nonentity at Liverpool but whose career has been salvaged in Savoy.[LNB]Then there is Nicola Legrottaglie, a centre-half once one of the Italian game's most dissolute playboys but a man of fearsome focus ever since he found Jesus and took a vow of chastity. This is to say nothing of Alessandro del Piero, whose contributions have been central to the club's latest and perhaps most extraordinary chapter. The renaissance men abound for Juventus.[LNB]Quietly pulling the strings is Ranieri, who has far outlasted the 'caretaker' status many imagined he had upon replacing Didier Deschamps in 2007. As a manager he is disarmingly self-effacing, winning over journalists last night by recalling his haplessness when he arrived at Chelsea: "My English is getting better, no? Do you remember the beginning?" But in directing his players he is no mere puppeteer, engineering a tactical shift that extends further than the restoration of catenaccio, that familiar Juventus patent of deadlocked defence and brisk counter-attack.[LNB]When Ranieri returned to Italy from Chelsea he surprised all his detractors by snatching Parma the jaws of relegation, but the turnaround at Juventus has been far more pronounced. The agonies suffered by the Old Lady in the pale afterglow of Italy's World Cup glory can hardly be overstated, as the role played by her directors, led by Luciano Moggi, in the manipulation of referees drew the most swingeing sanctions: beyond demotion from Serie A there was the two-year ban from European competition, and the loss of their successive scudetti of 2005 and 2006. The return to a position of title-challenging strength was meant to take five or six seasons, not a mere three.[LNB]Back in the Champions League, Juventus have not so much been treading water as thriving. Chelsea find themselves tonight as the poor relation, having sneaked into the knockout phase by finishing second in their group, while Juventus won theirs courtesy of victories home and away against Real Madrid.[LNB]Del Piero scored both goals in the win at the Bernabeu to underline his totemic status at the club, with Pavel Nedved also emphatically belying his 36 years with his dynamism on the right. Mellberg and Alex Manninger, substitute goalkeeper that night in place of Gianluigi Buffon, both credited Ranieri for inspiring the performance with his crisp, sharp instructions. Ranieri indicated his first experiences working with the bounty of Roman Abramovich resembled "fantasy football", but much the same could be said of his time at Juventus. [LNB]If no fall of a European club has been so precipitous, arguably no comeback has been so dramatic either.[LNB][LNB]

Source: Telegraph