Mark
Nov 12 2002, 12:05 AM
Juventus coach Marcello Lippi hailed his side's character after first half goals from Marco Di Vaio and Lilian Thuram gave the Italian champions a 2-1 win over AC Milan in Serie A on Sunday.
The win, the fourth successive year Juve have beaten Milan at the Delle Alpi stadium, moves Juventus into second place and within a point of Serie A leaders Inter Milan.
'They all played extremely well,' said Lippi, 'Great champions have only one characteristic -- to prove themselves better than their best adversaries and that is what my team did tonight.
'I am delighted with this result but the season is long,' added the Juventus coach.
Juve went ahead in the eighth minute after Alessandro Del Piero raced on to a pass from Pavel Nedved and slipped the ball across the face of the Milan goal and into the path of Di Vaio who made no mistake from close-range.
The home side doubled their lead in the 21st minute with another swift counter-attack, Del Piero again playing a key role as he fed overlapping Thuram who beat Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati with a well-placed right-foot shot.
Milan got themselves back into the game in the 32nd minute through an Andrea Pirlo penalty after Juve defender Alessandro Birindelli handled inside the area.
But Carlo Ancelotti's side lacked the sparkle of earlier in the season and were unable to find an equaliser as Juve closed ranks after the break.
'We gave them too much space and too many opportunities to hit us on the counter-attack,' said Ancelotti.
'This is definitely a step back for us but these things happen and Juventus played very well. We tried a different approach after the break, using the wings more and looking to get crosses in but Juve defended well.'
An upbeat Lippi was already thinking ahead and looking forward to the return of some of his injured players.
'We are up to second place now but we still have some key players like (Igor) Tudor and (David) Trezeguet out. I'd like to have the full squad avaliable,' said Lippi.
The win, the fourth successive year Juve have beaten Milan at the Delle Alpi stadium, moves Juventus into second place and within a point of Serie A leaders Inter Milan.
'They all played extremely well,' said Lippi, 'Great champions have only one characteristic -- to prove themselves better than their best adversaries and that is what my team did tonight.
'I am delighted with this result but the season is long,' added the Juventus coach.
Juve went ahead in the eighth minute after Alessandro Del Piero raced on to a pass from Pavel Nedved and slipped the ball across the face of the Milan goal and into the path of Di Vaio who made no mistake from close-range.
The home side doubled their lead in the 21st minute with another swift counter-attack, Del Piero again playing a key role as he fed overlapping Thuram who beat Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati with a well-placed right-foot shot.
Milan got themselves back into the game in the 32nd minute through an Andrea Pirlo penalty after Juve defender Alessandro Birindelli handled inside the area.
But Carlo Ancelotti's side lacked the sparkle of earlier in the season and were unable to find an equaliser as Juve closed ranks after the break.
'We gave them too much space and too many opportunities to hit us on the counter-attack,' said Ancelotti.
'This is definitely a step back for us but these things happen and Juventus played very well. We tried a different approach after the break, using the wings more and looking to get crosses in but Juve defended well.'
An upbeat Lippi was already thinking ahead and looking forward to the return of some of his injured players.
'We are up to second place now but we still have some key players like (Igor) Tudor and (David) Trezeguet out. I'd like to have the full squad avaliable,' said Lippi.