Del Piero takes chance to strike out

Paddy Agnew listens as the Italy forward settles some scores

Alessandro Del Piero faced the cameras and microphones, flashed a big grin and said: "As I said to you in recent days, lads, I'm in great form."

Seventy-two hours away from D Day in Berlin, and in the wake of scoring Italy's second, 121st-minute goal against Germany on Tuesday night, Del Piero is a man with scores to settle. In front of the world's press yesterday in Duisburg, he opted to settle matters not just with those who have criticised him in recent months but also with history itself: "We all know that my name, partly because of the club I play for (Juventus), always divides the critics. So you get to expect criticism, as indeed I have been criticised during this World Cup.

"Some of you wrote that I didn't get on to a ball from Gattuso in a counterattack in the second half of the game against Australia.You have to laugh at things like that, it is such an incredible distortion of reality, you have to be really inventive to come up with things like that, saying that I am only half a player. Mind you, perhaps I have wasted too much time on all of this."

Maybe he wasted time but he made his point.

He is right about one thing, of course, namely that he has been and continues to be much criticised. The one-time Boy Wonder of Italian football back in the mid-1990s is these days often referred to by as "yesterday's man" or "an ex-player".

Part of the problem is that, in the wake of a serious cruciate ligament knee injury in 1998, he has never been quite the same player in terms of pace and ability to go past defenders. Another problem is that where there is Del Piero, there is controversy. Not only do Juventus have the top billing in the match-fixing hearing in Rome, but Del Piero featured in the background to the infamous Juventus "Dope Trial" which began with allegations that he and Gianluca Vialli had resorted to "pharmaceutical help" to build up muscle mass.

Then, too, there is the question of history. Every Italian child knows Del Piero missed two glorious chances to wrap up the Euro 2000 final against France in Rotterdam. Having made his point with the journalists, can he settle matters with history and rectify the Euro 2000 result?

"We all know how the Euro 2000 final finished and I stood up and took the responsibility for my misses. But I was pretty happy with my goal the other night - maybe you noticed. A goal like that reminds me of what I can do. It's not easy to come on, create chances and even score a goal if you only come on for the final 20 minutes."

So, then, which side are favourites on Sunday? "France, of course, they are under less pressure than us, they don't have all that (match fixing hearing) going on back at home and they don't have the huge TV and newspaper pressure that we have."

Sunday's final will mark a re-union with Juventus team-mates past and present such as Lilian Thuram, Patrick Vieira, David Trezeguet and, above all, Zinedine Zidane. During Zidane's five seasons at Juventus, Del Piero and the Frenchman became good friends, a point underlined yesterday by Del Piero: "We lived through a very intense period together, plenty of adventures together and my admiration for him goes far beyond the player, and he's a great player too, what more can you say about him? I'm glad for him that he has defied his critics at these finals and that he is playing so well, glad, that is, up until Sunday."

At 31, is this not the last chance for Del Piero and his generation of players? "I prefer to call this a great chance, not the last chance. I certainly hope not, I have the European Championships in two years in mind."

Finally, Ale, what about your club future, what happens if and when Juventus are relegated by way of sanction for involvement in the match-fixing scandal? "For me, the only future is Sunday."