Euroscene: Twenty minutes into the second half of last Saturday night's Serie A game between Treviso and Juventus, coach Fabio Capello reprimanded his Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Juventus coach was annoyed with Ibrahimovic for having tried to dribble his way past one man too many, rather than pass the ball to a team-mate.
Ibrahimovic's reaction was immediate. Pointing to Juventus reserve striker, Uruguyan Marcelo Zalayeta, who was warming up on the sideline, the Swede shouted across at his coach: "If I'm not good enough, then take me off and bring him (Zalayeta) on."
No sooner said than done. Within two minutes, Zalayeta was brought on for Ibrahimovic. As he stomped off, the Swede angrily waved his index finger at the Juventus bench, accompanied by some very unparliamentary mutterings.
If you did not know it already after that 2-0 drubbing at Highbury last week, then you know now. Old Lady Juventus is in crisis, nerves are raw and tempers are frayed as the Italian league leaders look down the throat of a probable Champions League elimination tomorrow night in their return leg quarter-final tie with Arsenal in Turin.
All of a sudden, an all-dominant season is about to turn sour. In the past six weeks, Juventus have drawn four Serie A games and lost twice in the Champions League. The all dominant juggernaut of the last six months would seem to have run out of petrol. Even against little Treviso, the bottom side in Serie A and all of 63 points behind them, Juventus could do no better than an uninspiring 0-0.
While allowing for the fact that Juventus, unlike Arsenal, are well accustomed to finding themselves in the final stages of the Champions League, it is hard to hold out any hope for the Serie A league leaders tomorrow night. Not only does the side appear in poor shape, physically and mentally, but also Juventus will, of course, be without three suspended players in Frenchmen Patrick Vieira and Jonathon Zebina as well as Mauro Camoranesi. On top of that, Alessandro Del Piero, an old dog for the hard European road, is also doubtful.
Curiously, current Italy World Cup coach, Marcello Lippi, a man who coached Juventus to four Champions League finals between 1996 and 2003, argues that his old club can still do it. "Juventus are capable of anything and so they could even overturn the poor result of the first leg," he said yesterday.
Frankly, that sounds more like wishful thinking than a realistic assessment. What is sure is that even if Juventus still look certain to lift their 29th Italian league title (they are nine points clear of AC Milan with six games to play), that success more and more looks like minor compensation for Champions League failure. Perhaps down at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea board room are thinking the same rueful thoughts.
If and when Juventus go out this week, that will not necessarily spell the end of Italian interest in the competition. Both the Milan cousins, Inter and AC Milan, go into their second leg games tonight, against Spanish side Villarreal and French team Olympique Lyon respectively, with a serious chance of making the semi-final.
Unlike Juventus, who fielded an almost full strength side on Saturday, both Milan teams opted to field reserve teams at the weekend and with dramatically different results. Inter made 10 changes from the side that beat Villarreal 2-1 at the San Siro on Wednesday but still steamrollered relegation-battling Messina 3-0.
That 2-1 San Siro result clearly means that Villarreal need only a 1-0 win tonight to go through. Yet, with the wind in their sails and with coach Roberto Mancini able to call on valid substitutes (for example, he can choose from Brazilian Adriano, Uruguyan Alvaro Recoba, Nigerian Obafemi Martins and Argentine Julio Cruz in attack and all in form), Inter ought to have too much firepower for Villarreal.
In contrast to Inter, AC Milan's "Plan B" went all wrong last Saturday night away to Lecce. Having rested players such as Nesta, Seedorf, Serghino, Kaka and Shevchenko, Milan initially dominated the game but were then caught out on the counter attack through a goal from Lecce's Ivory Coast striker Axel Konan.
After being held to a 0-0 draw by Juventus in their head-to-head in Turin last month, all the Milan eggs had already been firmly put into the Champions League basket.
Against a Lyon side that welcomes back ace freekick specialist and playmaker, Brazilian Juninho, Milan will be hoping to preserve those eggs intact.
Tonight's games (7.45)
AC Milan (0) v Lyon (0) (UTV)
Villarreal (1) v Inter Milan (2) ( TV3)
