Alessandro Del Piero Free Kick Welcomes Juventus Back to Champions League

If you had to pick one person to score the game-winning goal in Juventus' return to the UEFA Champions League, it would have to be captain Alessandro Del Piero.

And that is exactly what the No. 10 Juve did as he scored a sensational free kick after 75 minutes of deadlock against Zenit St. Petersburg to claim a 1-0 win.

"I am happy with a good performance and a fine goal," said the 34-year-old forward. "I was not all that focused on the goalkeeper, he just made a little movement towards the right and I went for it."

That is exactly what he did. As Del Piero stepped up to take the kick, Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev stepped to his right, causing him to be hung out to dry as the powerful free kick went flying away from him into the back corner of the net.

And how did the captain celebrate? With a somersault as the fans at the Stadio Olimpico went insane.

"I was just letting out the tension of the moment after everything we've been through," Del Piero said after the win.

However, it wasn't as perfect as everything seemed to be. Zenit's attack, led by Euro 2008 star Andrei Arshavin, caused problems all night for the Italian side. Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon came up big for the Turin club on more than one occasion, with his most notable save from Radek Sirl when the game was still tied at 0-0.

There were also nervous moments as Italian winger Mauro Camoranesi went down injured 30 minutes in with an apparent right ankle injury.

However, despite the challenging match, Juve boss Claudio Ranieri is pleased with how his team played.

"It was a complicated and very tactical game, as Zenit are in better physical shape than we are," Ranieri said. "(They) play with five midfielders plus three who move a lot upfront."

Ranieri, who started the "old guard" of the club for the Champions League opener, assured that things will not always be like this.

"We created this squad in order to give everyone an opportunity to play and to recover. Now we are in good shape considering it is September, so when everyone is like that I can rotate the squad," the tactician concluded.

The Bianconeri continue their Champions League return when they take on FC Bate Borisov, who lost to Real Madrid 2-0 Wednesday, Sept. 30 at the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk.

2008/09 Champions League—Group Stage
Group H—Day 1
Turin, Stadio Olimpico
Wednesday, Sept. 17

JUVENTUS-ZENIT 1-0

GOALS: Del Piero 76 mins.

JUVENTUS

Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro (De Ceglie 58); Camoranesi (Salihamidzic 31), Sissoko, Poulsen, Nedved; Del Piero, Trezeguet (Amauri 87). Subs not used: Manninger, Mellberg, Marchisio, Iaquinta.

ZENIT SAINT PETERSBURG

Malafeev; Anyukov, Puygrenier, Krizanac, Sirl; Zyryanov (Dominguez 80), Tymoshcuck, Denisov; Danny, Arshavin; Pogrebnyak. Subs not used: Contofalsky, Radimov, Dong Jin, Hubocan, Fayzulin, Ricksen.

YELLOW CARDS

Pogrebnyak 8, Sirl 68, Salihamidzic 84.