Del Piero Is Officially A Reserve - Report

The Gazzetta dello Sport is today suggesting that Alessandro Del Piero is now officially a second-choice player at Juventus.

The Golden Boy has started the last two matches against Palermo and Milan on the substitutes bench, as Coach Claudio Ranieri preferred the combination of Vincenzo Iaquinta and David Trezeguet.

Del Piero came on against Palermo in the 68^th minute and produced a magical cameo performance, scoring a penalty, a brilliant free-kick, and creating a goal for Marcho Marchionni.

Despite this display, Del Piero was only offered 19 minutes of action in last Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Milan at San Siro, a decision for which Ranieri received criticism for.

Nevertheless it now appears that the Tinkerman has decided that Iaquinta and Trezeguet are his first-choice strikeforce, with Del Piero having to mostly make do with a role from the substitutes bench.

This is not a totally new scenario for the Bianconeri all-time record goalscorer, who rarely completed 90 minutes during Fabio Capello’s two-year stint at the club between 2004 and 2006.

The Don, who had a fractious relationship with Del Boy, often preferred to play Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic up-front.

www.goal.com - 04/12/2007 16:20