Realistic Ranieri keeps feet on the ground

Coach Claudio Ranieri expressed his satisfaction after Juventus opened Group H with a 1-0 victory against FC Zenit St. Petersburg, but warned it would be "naïve" to consider his side as favourites as they find their feet in the competition after a two-year absence. For Dick Advocaat it was a case of what might have been with the Zenit coach declaring: "You need to take your chances if you want to win and tonight we didn't do that".

Claudio Ranieri, Juventus coach
I liked our goal and I liked the result. It was a very complicated game, very tactical. I think Zenit are currently in a better physical condition than us as our league has just started. They pressed us well, closing down every space with five midfielders and breaking quickly. We were very good at slowing them down when they tried to counterattack. I want to congratulate Zenit because they are a great side. We knew that because they won the UEFA Cup and beat Manchester United in the [UEFA] Super Cup recently. I also know we are in a very difficult group because Real Madrid are also a great side.

I'm curious to see how my team will do in a tournament like the Champions League. Our club has a great tradition but a few of my players have no experience at all in this competition. If people expect us to be the favourites and win every game easily just because we are Juventus, they are naïve. We have a very good squad and we're in good form. I'm very satisfied especially because we finished the game very strongly even if Zenit were probably physically better than us.

Dick Advocaat, Zenit coach
I'm quite disappointed because we missed a few good opportunities to score and we paid for that. We could have scored before Juventus but we lacked the composure to finish our moves. That was the key to the game, we lost because of that. However we have shown great maturity against sides like Manchester United and Juventus. I believe this kind of game will only help us grow. Tonight we proved we can play well away to a great side like Juventus. It's always difficult to face champions like Alessandro Del Piero because they can change a game with one shot. I don't think my goalkeeper made a mistake with his free-kick and in general I don't like to talk about single episodes.

I just think that in football you need to take your chances if you want to win and tonight we didn't do that. After their goal I put another forward on and we tried to attack. However it wasn't easy after conceding that goal. I'm very please with the performance of my team in general. We played a strong team away and we could have won with a bit more determination in attack.