Del Piero: 'My traumatic Juve exit'

Alessandro Del Piero reveals his Juventus exit was “traumatic,” but has faith they can win the Scudetto and Champions League.

The former captain is in Italy at the moment with Sydney FC, who are having their pre-season training camp in Jesolo.

“The Australians are very Anglo-Saxon, so they don’t say anything if there’s a tough tackle, but react badly to an elbow or a shirt-tug. They cannot stand unfair play,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“In Italy, on the other hand, we don’t know how to mark on a corner without sneaky tactics.

“We also wasted the 1990 World Cup in Italy, as the stadiums haven’t been touched since. In the last 15 years England and Germany have built or modernised their venues, resolved the safety issue and worked on the sporting mentality.

“In other countries you have respect for the rules, honesty and certainty those who do wrong will be punished. Glasgow Rangers are an historic club, but they went bankrupt and nobody rescued them just because they were famous.”

Del Piero will always remain a Juventus fan and now Carlos Tevez has inherited his Number 10 jersey.

“My departure was traumatic and left inevitable traces. I don’t want to divide anyone, as those who support Juve can also cheer on Sydney.

“My former teammates said the 10 will always be mine? That was the gratifying and I thank Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio and Gigi Buffon, as any of them could’ve taken it over.

“In the past my Juve had as an objective the Champions League, which sucks a lot of energy out of you, and a less vast squad. Now there are two players for every role and at this moment Juve have six strikers. A Coach has the opportunity to choose.

“With a squad like this Juve can easily try to win the third consecutive Scudetto and simultaneously challenge for the Champions League.”