Capello calls for 'exceptional' night

Although Juventus be without Alessandro Del Piero for their UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg against Arsenal FC on Wednesday, coach Fabio Capello is confident his players can pull off a historic comeback from their 2-0 Highbury defeat. "We can do something exceptional," he said.

Capello confidence
Having witnessed a below-par display from the Italian champions-elect, Capello was hoping to be able to call on his creative-minded captain to help carve out the goalscoring opportunities that were missing last week. Yet despite Del Piero's failure to recover in time from a thigh injury, not to mention the absence through suspension of Mauro Camoranesi, Jonathan Zebina and Patrick Vieira, the Bianconeri boss remains upbeat about Juventus's chances.

No regrets
"I never regret what I don't have," he said. "I'm always positive and I have faith in my players and I believe we will play well tomorrow [Wednesday]. We must be confident because we believe we can do something exceptional. In football anything can happen. Our opponents are very strong but we believe we'll do our best to turn things around." Aside from putting blind faith in Capello's optimistic outlook, Juventus fans can also take comfort from the return of Pavel Nedvěd.

Nedvěd return
The Czech Republic midfielder was sorely missed in London, and again in Saturday's goalless Serie A draw at Treviso FC, and he could provide the spark needed to ignite a Juve fightback. "Nedvěd has always been exceptional for us," said Capello. "He can make a big difference in matches as the driving force of the side. When you have a European Footballer of the Year, he can always make a difference. Arsenal don't give much away to our attacking players so we must create space for ourselves to score."

English hoodoo
Juventus have not fared well against English opposition in recent years. In addition to the Highbury reverse, they were knocked out by eventual winners Liverpool FC at this stage last season, succumbed to Manchester United FC in the second group stage in February 2003, and also lost to United in the 1998/99 semi-finals. Capello, though, refutes any notion of Anglophobia within Juve's make-up, adding: "I don't even think you can refer to Arsenal as an English side – take a look at their passports.

Point to prove
"We just need to put in a huge performance, because if we don't, we won't achieve our goal. But we believe in ourselves particularly because a lot of people have said we are dead and buried. We know we need to attack from the start and then we'll see. In football anything can happen and in this case we have the belief that it will."

High fives

'Try to win'
According to manager Arsène Wenger, however, Arsenal need only stick to their attacking instincts in order to reach a first-ever UEFA Champions League semi-final. "We have to attack and try to win the game. We will try to defend, of course, but we have to fix our targets to play well and try to win."