Defiant Juventus await Madrid

By Marcus Christenson

Juventus FC captain Alessandro Del Piero has admitted that Real Madrid FC are the favourites to reach the UEFA Champions League final when the two sides meet in Turin on Wednesday.

'Perfect game'
The Spanish side come to the Delle Alpi holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu, and Del Piero knows that Juventus will have to play "a perfect game" to eliminate the reigning Champions League holders. "[Madrid] are the favourites because they are the strongest team in Europe at the moment," he said. "They are the strongest team because of the players they have and because of the titles they have won in recent years."

'Fired up'
But Del Piero has not given up hope yet and is looking forward to a magnificent spectacle. "These are great games and everyone here at Juventus is fired up," he added. "We didn't start that well in the first leg and we even seemed a bit taken aback but we started to play better when we relaxed and we hope to do just that on Wednesday night."

Striking partners
Del Piero is expected to be partnered by David Trezeguet in attack with Pavel Nedved, who has overcome a knee problem, playing just behind them or starting from an equally dangerous position on the left. In defence, meanwhile, coach Marcello Lippi will be without suspended centre-backs Ciro Ferrara and Mark Iuliano with Igor Tudor and Paolo Montero expected to deputise.

No comebacks
Before last week's game, Juventus had not played Madrid since the 1998 Champions League final, a game the Spanish side won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Predrag Mijatovic. However, Lippi refused to talk about revenge being exacted if Juve reach the final this time.

'Heads and hearts'
Lippi said: "These are two different teams to the ones who played then and you can't make a comparison. We want to reach the final but not because we lost to Madrid five years ago. We will have to use our heads and our hearts to eliminate Real Madrid. One or the other is not enough."

Party postponed
Juventus won their 27th league title on Saturday following a 2-2 draw with AC Perugia, but Lippi revealed that the club have postponed the celebrations until after the game against Madrid.

Recreativo block
Madrid, meanwhile, arrive in Turin on the back of a disappointing 0-0 draw with relegation-threatened RC Recreativo de Huelva. The stalemate meant that Madrid dropped to third in the table and coach Vicente del Bosque also has to deal with several injury worries.

Raúl returns
Ronaldo is a doubt with a calf injury while holding midfield player Claude Makelele is also struggling to be fit due to a thigh problem. In addition, Luis Figo (hamstring) and Zinedine Zidane (back) have also been missing training although they are expected to be passed fit together with striker Raúl González, who has just returned following a bout of appendicitis.

'Others ready'
With the situation out of his hands, Del Bosque shrugged off his squad's injury worries - especially that of his Brazilian striker. "We will have to wait until tomorrow to see whether Ronaldo can play," he said. "But we have other players who are ready to step in."

'We must attack'
Meanwhile Raúl, who admitted that he probably needs two or three games to get back to full fitness, said: "I am feeling well and will be ready for the game. The squad may not have had the best results recently but I think we have been preparing for this game. We won the first leg so Juventus can't sit back and wait for us to attack - but we cannot defend either. We have to attack as well."