16 June 2013
Juventus have recently established their status as one of the four best Allievi Nazionali sides in the whole of Italy. But Ivano Della Morte and his boys won’t be looking to stop there as they keep their eyes set on the championship trophy which is now just two wins away.
After topping a group A comprised of Milan, Inter and Genoa, the Bianconeri now square up against Parma in the semi-final on Monday. The strength of Juve’s regular season league can be seen by the fact that there are as many as three clubs (Juventus, Parma and Empoli) from ‘Girone A’ in the tournament’s last four.
The 38-year old began: “This shows that our league was the strongest and most competitive. The fact that we even managed to come through it is already a notable achievement. Parma are a great team, possibly the best of the lot, but we are ready to face them.”
The last four encounter at Cesa di Marciano della Chiana will see the Bianconeri go in search of their first win against Parma this year after they failed to come out on top in either of the two regular season meetings.
“We lost the first match, but it was right at the start of the season and we were still finding our feet. We were a completely different Juve side in the return fixture in Parma, where we got a draw and even looked like winning. In fact, maybe it was that good test which helped us realise our potential and see that we were clearly on the road to improvement.”
In the aftermath of that fixture, the Allievi kicked off on an incredible run of positive results which came to an end on Friday evening against Inter.
“Against Inter, I played the boys who have had fewer chances in the side, but have nonetheless been important to our journey, so they had never really played together. They did well for the first 25 minutes, but then Inter came out on top. We’ve rested and recharged our batteries a bit now and we’re ready for Monday’s semi-final. The fact that we’ve reached the last four shows that we can compete against anyone and we will do so against Parma.”
