The previous year we’d been knocked out of the Uefa Cup in the first round by Rotor Volgograd. We might be champions of England but this wasn’t form to terrify the rest of the world, especially when in the autumn of 1996 we stumbled through the Champions League group stage. We lost the club’s 40-year unbeaten record at home, defeated by Fenerbahçe, and went down in both games to Juventus – the European champions, and one of the best teams I ever faced.
Juventus were unbelievably good, so big and powerful as well as packed with talent. Just standing in the tunnel next to them was intimidating. I’d never faced such a formidable team: Ferrara and Montero in defence, Deschamps, Conte and Zidane in midfield, and Del Piero with two big and dangerous strikers in Boksic and Vieri. Big names, big players, in every respect. We lost 1–0 to them in Turin, but it could have been 10–0. It was the biggest battering I’ve ever had on a football pitch. They took us to school, boys against men. We didn’t have a proper chance in the whole match. Manchester United played ninety minutes without a shot, without a sniff of a chance. It’s the only time that happened in my 602 games.
Del Piero was a class act, so sharp and elusive and intelligent. There’s a lot of thick footballers out there, players with huge talent when the ball’s at their feet but no real understanding of where to move or how best to link with their teammates. That is a criticism you’d never make of Zidane or Del Piero, and Juventus had both of them. These were the guys who made the Champions League such a massive test. They knew how to play and they were streetwise, too. They could handle themselves, and if anyone did have a go they had tough nuts like Montero to offer protection.
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