At the beginning of November 2008 Alessandro Del Piero was 33 years old, and about to turn 34 on the 9. First, however, there is an appointment of those marked in red on the calendar or saved in the smartphone agenda. On 5 November Claudio Ranieri ‘s Juventus goes to the Santiago Bernabeu. That stadium, as well as Manchester, Munich or Barcelona is one of the times of European football. The thrilling Champions League is played there and Del Piero knows how to do it. Protagonist of Lippi ‘s first and second Juve , he has already won the trophy in 1996 in Rome. However, he lost three finals that still burn (1997, 1998, 2003).
⏰ IT HAPPENED TODAY ⏰
⚪⚫ Exactly 🔟 years ago, Alessandro #DelPiero left the pitch with a Standing Ovation at the #Bernabeu 👏👏👏 # UCL #Juventus @delpieroale @juventusfc pic.twitter.com/jI5ssDOrIw
– La UEFA (@UEFAcom_it) 5 November 2018
After the Calciopoli scandal in 2006, Juve returned to Europe in that season thanks to the third place in the league gained the year before. In addition to Del Piero, Buffon, Nedved, Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Chiellini remained of the dominating team in Italy . The bianconeri are trying to return to their former glory, they have bought Amauri from Palermo, in midfield there is Tiago from Chelsea with the Malian Sissoko , in defense a rock like the VikingMellberg .
In the Champions League, after eliminating Artmedia from Bratislava in the preliminaries, they ended up in group H with Real Madrid, Zenit St. Petersburg and Bate Borisov . Juve have a great qualifying round, qualify in first place, beat Zenit and Real at home and live their night of glory on November 5th.
Santiago Bernabeu , it was said. Madrid has the eternal Raul as captain, Casillas in goal, Fabio Cannavaro in defense alongside the young Sergio Ramos and Marcelo . The blancos, in search of the “tithe” that will win only in 2014, are coached by the German Schuster. The attacking department is made up of Sneijder , the aforementioned Raul and the Dutch Van Nistelrooij , who arrived in Spain after years of scoring with United. In the second half, in the twentieth minute, a very young Gonzalo Higuain , 21 years old at the time, will also enter. Drenthe , who will be one of the best, replaces the injured Robben at the last minute.
The blancos start on the attack, but Madama does not take great risks all in all. Drenthe rages on the wing, Van Nistelrooij looks for the right twist, but does not create much. At the first real opportunity, Juve passes. Guti loses the ball, Marchionni recoversserving Del Piero in midfield. The captain approaches the opponent’s penalty area, places the left from 20 meters as a free kick in motion, goal. 0-1 and bianconeri ahead. In the second half, Madrid ahead of the white weapon, Ranieri’s team dances a little behind but holds. At 67 ‘there is an ideal free-kick for Del Piero , on the center-left 25 meters from Casillas . The Spanish goalkeeper places the barrier very badly, the Juventus captain takes advantage of it and goes to sign a memorable double.
He would also have time to take the ball home, but the hat-trick was only close. Claudio Ranieri , with time out, decides to give a well-deserved and unforgettable standing ovation to number 10 of him, replaced by De Ceglie. The Santiago Bernabeu responds and stands up to applaud. Even Maradona in the stands claps his hands for Del Piero. Juve thus qualified for the round of 16 two days early. She was then eliminated by Chelsea in March 2009.
