Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri will rely on the veteran striking pair of Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet to overturn a 1-0 deficit against his former club Chelsea in the Champions League today.
Ranieri strategically kept both Del Piero and Trezeguet out of Saturday's 1-0 derby win over Torino.
"We need a goal right away," Ranieri said. "We need to play like we know how and score goals."
Del Piero is Juve's all-time leading scorer with 254 goals, while Trezeguet has scored 161 times for the Bianconeri. Last season, the duo stood atop the Serie A scoring chart with 21 goals from Del Piero and 20 from Trezeguet.
New Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink does not want his club to sit back and absorb strikes from Del Piero and Trezeguet.
"It's always nice to have a clean sheet," Hiddink said. "That's very important. But if you just wait in the second leg and hope not to concede, willing not to concede a goal and not have any initiative in the game, you will have a lot of problems.
"So, whenever we can, the team must attack. It's in their character. We've not come here just to defend. That would be asking for trouble."
Del Piero accounted for three of Juve's four goals in two wins over Real Madrid in this season's group stage, while six of his seven Serie A goals this term have come from dead-ball situations - four free kicks and two penalties.
"We have every intention of scoring, which is a necessity," said Del Piero, who has faced Hiddink twice with Italy.
"I obviously don't have a very nice memory of the game against South Korea at the 2002 World Cup, but it went better against Australia four years later," Del Piero said. "But in both cases he showed himself to be a very well prepared coach, and now he also has great players available. That's going to make the match very difficult for us."
Trezeguet missed most of the season after undergoing surgery on both knees in September. He played only the final four minutes of the first leg, when Chelsea won with a 12th-minute goal from Didier Drogba.
Drogba scored again in a win at Coventry in the FA Cup on Saturday.
"Didier is dangerous," said Hiddink, who has won all five matches since taking over from the fired Luiz Felipe Scolari a month ago.
Chelsea failed to win on the road in this season's group stage, drawing at Bordeaux and CFR Cluj and losing 3-1 at AS Roma.
"Hiddink has gotten some great results, but sooner or later he'll have to lose," Ranieri said.
If Juventus wins 1-0, the game will be decided by a penalty shootout.
Chelsea was eliminated on penalties the past two seasons, by Liverpool in the 2007 semifinals, then by Manchester United in last season's final.
Juve also lost its last shootout in Europe, falling to Andriy Shevchenko and AC Milan in the 2003 final.
The game features two of the world's top goalkeepers in Gianluigi Buffon and Petr Cech.
Juventus has a problem on the right wing, with midfielders Mauro Camoranesi and Marco Marchionni both out. Hasan Salihamidzic could step in, or Ranieri could use forward Vincenzo Iaquinta in an attacking midfield role. Iaquinta has played that position before with Italy.
Another Juve midfielder, Mohamed Sissoko, is out with a broken right foot, and Nicola Legrottaglie is also injured, opening a spot in central defense for Sweden's Olof Mellberg.
Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka, the Premier League scoring leader with 15 goals, has recovered from a bruised toe, while midfielder Deco is getting over a hamstring tear.
"Anelka has started to train again - yesterday, a bit the day before - and we'll see what his reaction is," Hiddink said. "We have a few hours to make a decision.
"Deco started back a few days ago. He's a little more problematic. He's fit, but his injury was a muscle, a hamstring. Not a rupture, but you must be careful. We'll look at him after training to see whether he's in the 18."
Juventus has not lost in its last 13 home matches in the Champions League, with 10 wins and three draws - its last home loss in the competition was to Deportivo La Coruna five years ago.
But Juve was eliminated by English clubs in its last two appearances, by Liverpool in 2005 and Arsenal the following season. The 1985 and 1996 champions sat out the last two seasons following the Italian match-fixing scandal.
"English clubs can struggle on the road," Ranieri said. "Our fans really need to give us a hand."
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily March 10, 2009)
