Capello out to make 'miracle' come true for Juventus
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Your support makes all the difference.Fabio Capello believes his Juventus side are capable of producing "a miracle" and overturning Arsenal's 2-0 lead in the Champions' League quarter-final second leg here in the Stadio delle Alpi tonight.
The odds are stacked in favour of Arsène Wenger's side but Capello knows the Italian champions are more than capable of going through to the semi-finals.
"Miracles do happen," said Capello. "We are convinced we can do something extraordinary. In football anything can happen. People think we are dead in this competition - they are mistaken. We can do it. We have the determination to do great things."
Juventus will have to do so without their captain, Alessandro Del Piero, who missed the first leg, and has failed to recover from a thigh injury. He has not been included in Capello's squad. The Turin club will also be without the suspended trio of Jonathan Zebina, Mauro Camoranesi and the former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira. However, Capello does not believe his players should use this as an excuse.
"I'm not thinking about it," Capello said. "I am happy with the team I have. I prefer to be optimistic and I think we can do well. We are ready but it's certainly the most difficult result to turn around since I joined Juve."
Capello is confident his team have learned from the mistakes they made at Highbury - Juve struggled in both attack and defence, and ended the game with nine men following the dismissals of Zebina and Camoranesi.
"We are well aware of the errors we made," Capello said. "We have learnt from them and with respect to my players' indiscipline, I hope it doesn't happen again. As for the other aspects of the game, concentration and determination will be crucial. We respect Arsenal and we know they are strong, but so are we."
Arsenal have conceded only two goals in Europe this season while Juve have struggled of late to find the back of the net. "I hope we can create more goalscoring opportunities than we did in the opening leg," said Capello, whowelcomes back his key midfielder Pavel Nedved, a man capable of providing the spark of genius needed to unlock any defence. The midfielder Emerson, who scored the decisive goal in the 88th-minute of the last round when the Werder Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese dropped the ball, will also be asked to attack more from midfield.
"Pavel is a player that changes the rhythm of games," Capello said. "He will be decisive tomorrow when we will have no choice but to attack from the start."
Juventus' missing men
Jonathan Zebina Defender, Suspended
Patrick Vieira Midfielder, Suspended
Mauro Camoranesi Midfielder, Suspended
Alessandro Del Piero Striker, Injured
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