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JUVENTUS - HAMBURG 1-3

Tuesday 24 Oct 2000, kick-off 8:45PM CET

 

The Bianconeri fell for the first time in this season's Champions League on Tuesday night, going down 3-1 to Hamburg at the Delle Alpi. They now have to win in Athens against Panathinaikos to be sure of qualification. And they will have to do it without both Zizou and Davids, both of whom will be suspended.

Things began badly with Alessandro Birindelli having to withdraw just minutes before the game with a late injury, and there was a late call-up for Michele Paramatti.

Juve made the first impression through a Zidane free-kick, but Ciro Ferrara’s header went wide.

Hamburg knew that only a win would give them any chance of breaking through to the next round, and they began by pressing forward from the off, coming closest to scoring in the 10th minute through 31-year-old Stig Toftig. His venomous shot from distance was knocked onto the post by Edwin Van der Sar in the Juve goal.

The teams failed then to make much headway until again the German outfit broke forward, and Roy Prager fired a shot that Van der Sar saved only at the second time of asking. Hamburg’s runs were proving incisive and hard to handle, with a number of mistakes at the back not helping the Bianconeri.

The shock opener for Hamburg came in the 23rd minute after Edgar Davids was adjudged to have fouled Nico Jan Hoogma who was closing down on the Juventus goal. The Dutchman clearly took the ball, but the Scottish referee, Stuart Dougal, waved away all protests.

Stig Tofting fired in and although Edwin Van der Sar managed to push the ball away, it only reached as far as Roy Prager who nodded it in.

In the 27th minute Juve finally managed another shot on goal, but David Trezeguet’s shot failed to draw a save from Hans-Jorg Butt in the Hamburg goal, as the keeper watched the ball whistle wide.

But Juve's bad luck wasn’t over. Zizou was struggling with a back problem and was about to be subbed to make way for Alex Del Piero when he reacted with a headbutt to Jochen Kientz's challenge in the 29th minute. The Scotsman had little choice but to send-off the Frenchman for the second time in this season's Champions League.

In the same incident Davids was booked for protesting... a caution that quickly came back to haunt him. Only three minutes passed before he saw yellow again and then the inevitable red. So the Dutchman also had to leave the field.

Juve were down to nine men and a goal behind in a match that it was imperative they won, if they weren’t to put qualification at risk. But the Bianconeri only managed one more shot on goal at the end of the half through Paramatti; once again Butt wasn’t troubled.

The second half started with little to smile about, and Anthony Yeboah’s 47th-minute goal certainly wasn’t going to bring a smile to Carlo Ancelotti’s lips. The striker broke away from Ferrara’s attentions and fired in from close range: 2-0.

Within minutes Carlo Ancelotti decided to ring the changes, bringing on Alex Del Piero, Darko Kovacevic and Marco Zanchi in place of Filippo Inzaghi, David Trezeguet and Ciro Ferrara… And to begin with the changes looked to have done the trick, as Kovacevic nodded home from Alex’s free-kick.

The lead was halved, but it was merely false hope, as Hamburg restored their two-goal advantage within minutes. Van der Sar little more than parried Marcel Ketalaer’s thunderous shot, and Andrei Panadic met the rebound to make it 3-1. At that point Juve heads dropped, although Del Piero did his best to revive his side's fortunes with an 84th-minute free-kick. But even he had to accept it was not to be Juve’s night, as the ball bounced back off the crossbar.

GOALS: 23' Prager, 48' Yeboah, 56' Kovacevic, 62' Panadic
CAUTIONS: 28' and 33' Davids, 45' Paramatti, 65' Kovacevic
RED CARDS: 28' Zidane, 33' Davids (for two yellow cards)

JUVENTUS (3-4-1-2): Van der Sar; Tudor, Ferrara (54' Zanchi), Iuliano; Paramatti, Davids, Conte, Pessotto; Zidane; Inzaghi (54' Del Piero), Trezeguet (54' Kovacevic). (Rampulla, Brighi, Zanchi, Bachini, Kovacevic, Del Piero, O'Neill). Manager. Ancelotti

HAMBURG (3-4-3): Butt; Kientz (49' Mahdavikia), Panadic, Hertzsch; Hoogma, Kovac (16' Maul), Barbarez, Tofting; Yeboah, Praeger, Ketelaer (73' Heinz). (Hillenbrand, Doll, Heinz, Maul, Sporl, Bester, Mahdavikia). Manager. Pagelsdorf.

Referre: Stuart Dougal (Scotland)