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TER - JUVENTUS 2 - 2

Sunday 3 Dec 2000, kick-off 9:30PM CET

The Derby of Italy finished all square at 2-2. It was dominated by Les Bleus, with David Trezeguet, Lauren Blanc and Zinedine Zidane on the score sheet twice. Unfortunately one of the two was an own goal, although it would be churlish to blame him for failing to get out of the way of Luigi Di Biagio’s 35-yard free-kick.

The game was played at breakneck speed for almost 90 minutes and neither Carlo Ancelotti or Marco Tardelli will be complaining about a lack of commitment from their players.

The only change from last weekend’s match for the Bianconeri was the deployment of Alex Del Piero alongside David Trezeguet, with Filippo Inzaghi on the bench. The selection proved to be a good one, as it was the Frenchman who opened the scoring after a one two between Zinedine Zidane and Alex Del Piero completed with a lay-off for the 23-year-old who put the ball past Sebastian Frey from close range after seven minutes.

The home team was clearly rocked by the pace of Juve’s opening, and they were caught cold again when Frey failed to hold a 25-yard shot from Zizou. 2-0 after 10 minutes when the usually assured 20-year-old fumbling a simple save.

But it was at that point Inter came alive and for the rest of the half the Bianconeri were pressed back as Marco Tardelli’s lads pushed forward. The home side needed a quick and decisive reaction and it was another Frenchman who gave them what they needed. Inter’s central defender rose above the scrum to meet Javier Zanetti’s corner and headed home, bringing the Nerazzurri back into the game on 13 minutes.

Inter seemed to play out of sheer anger, while Juve kept their cool going close on occasion through Del Piero towards the end of the half, but only after a goal from Christian Vieri was disallowed for dangerous play by Gigi Di Biagio in the box.

Juve went in with the alarm bells ringing, knowing that they would need to show all their experience and composure in the restart to maintain their first half advantage.

The opening minutes of the restart saw the Bianconeri press forward and they twice went close before the Nerazzurri bit back when Gigi Di Biagio put Vieri through on goal, but he failed to hit the target. Then a minute later (53) Vieri found himself alone in front of goal after Alvaro Recoba skipped through the defence and lifted the ball over Edwin Van der Sar. The ball landed at the feet of the 27-year striker – fortunately for Juve Vieri has still some way to go to find his shooting boots after a long spell out for injury – and he fired over from 3 yards.

At that point the Bianconeri will have been thanking their lucky stars, but with Inter seeming to tire, Carlo Ancelotti’s lads were able to gain more possession and Alex Del Piero had two chances. Had he been able to realise either one of them surely the game would have been put beyond Inter. Unfortunately he failed to control the ball after Gianluca Zambrotta’s cross and then he failed to beat Frey after Zizou found the number 10 in space.

Then Zizou got on the score sheet again. Unfortunately he put the ball in the back of his own net, when Gigi Di Biagio drilled in a free-kick from 35-yards took a deflection off the Frenchman wrong-footing Van der Sar: 2-2 after 66 minutes.

The players inevitably began to show some tiredness as mistakes and some bad-temperedness crept into the game. But only two more clear chances were created - both in extra time. First Blanc who had an exceptional match managed to put a ball through to Vieri, catching the Bianconeri on the break. But Van der Sar got down well to push out the low left-footed drive out for a corner.

Finally, in the last minute of time added on Trezeguet fired in a shot that his compatriot in the Inter goal could only push out for corner.

Cautions: 19 Vieri, 57 Ferrari, 71 Davids, 73 Tacchinardi

INTER (3-5-2): Frey; Ferrari, Blanc, Cordoba; Zanetti, Jugovic, Di Biagio, Farinos (74’ Cirillo), Macellari (60’ Seedorf); Recoba, Vieri. (Ballotta, Serena, Seedorf, Cauet, Vampeta, Cirillo, Sukur).

JUVENTUS (3-4-1-2): Van der Sar; Birindelli, Montero (67’ Tudor), Iuliano; Conte (34’ Zambrotta), Davids, Tacchinardi (85’ Bachini), Pessotto; Zidane; Del Piero, Trezeguet. (Rampulla, Tudor, Ferrara, Inzaghi, Bachini, Kovacevic, Zambrotta).

Referee: Braschi
At the San Siro: 75.377