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Wednesday October 21, 2009

Juve won’t take Israeli minnows Maccabi for granted

ROME: Juventus will not be underestimating group minnows Maccabi Haifa when the Israelis come to Turin in the Champions League today.

Maccabi sit bottom of Group A after two defeats to Bayern Munich and Bordeaux while Juve are only one place and two points above them after having drawn against the same two teams.

But despite Haifa’s limited European pedigree, Juve centre-back Giorgio Chiellini insisted his team will treat their opponents like the greats of European football.

Last year Juve beat Real Madrid home and away in the group stages before they fell to Chelsea in the first knock-out round.

“On Wednesday we have to play with the same intensity we showed a year ago against Real,” said Chiellini.

“In this match and in the next one in Tel Aviv (Haifa’s ground does not meet UEFA standards so they play Champions League matches in Tel Aviv’s national stadium) are matches we have to win at any cost so we can make it to the last two group games in the best possible health.

“We don’t know much about Maccabi, personally I know the striker (Vladimir) Dvalishvili because I came up against him for the national team against Georgia last month.

“They’re a team that must be respected for what they did against Bayern Munich and Bordeaux when they were only beaten at the end of the games.” — AFP

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