First leg: Werder Bremen 3-2 Juventus
Juventus coach Fabio Capello is players to produce a positive response as they look to overturn the 3-2 deficit from the first leg in Germany.
Late goals from Tim Borowski and Johan Micoud earned a surprise victory for the Bundesliga outfit and Capello is expecting his players to look to make amends tonight.
“I’m hoping the players are angry – they certainly should be,” he said.
“Conceding those late goals did not go down well at all.”
“But, the signs are very positive,” added Capello.
Juve cruised to a 1-0 win over Sampdoria at the weekend.
“Apart from when they hit Gianluigi Buffon’s crossbar, he wasn’t troubled and the team remained concentrated for the full 90 minutes.”
“This year we have matured into a very strong unit. We are capable of taking on anyone. The win on Saturday was important and so was the fact we have players fit. This gives us an added psychological boost and means we are confident of beating Bremen.”
Capello welcomes back Gianluca Zambrotta, while Jonathan Zebina is expected to start on the left flank. David Trezeguet has also recovered from injury in time but Robert Kovac is definitely out and Zlatan Ibrahimovic faces a late fitness test.
Capello’s opposite number confirms that assessment. Thomas Schaaf said: “I think it would be a mistake to play defensively. We have players with great attacking ability and it would be wrong to ignore our strengths, although clearly we must not neglect our defensive duties either.”
Schaaf welcomes back from injury of defensive duo Frank Baumann and Naldo, Schaaf and although his team hold a narrow lead, he insists they remain underdogs.
“Juve have lots of players of enormous quality and they are better than us on paper and are expected to win. But that’s the beauty of football – it isn’t played on paper and anything can happen,” he said.
“We have gathered quite a lot of European experience now and you learn from every match – especially the bad ones. Games against Barcelona, Valencia, Milan and Lyon have all taught us something. The experience paid off in the last leg and let’s hope it does in the second.”
