Ranieri Proud Of Champions League Return

CelticKing · Sep 12, 2008

Ranieri Proud Of Champions League Return

Claudio Ranieri has spoken of his pride at Juventus’ return to the Champions League group stages following a two year exile.

The Bianconeri were regular competitors in Europe’s premier club competition until they were caught up in the Calciopoli crisis in 2006, which saw them stripped of two Scudetti, and relegated down to Serie B.

After being forced to sell a whole host of world class players, the road back to the top was a tough one. After immediately getting promoted back up to the top-flight, Ranieri, who took over the reigns from Didier Deschamps in 2007, led Juve to a third place finish last season.

This allowed Juve to enter the Champions League preliminaries, and after defeating Artmedia last month, they progressed through to the group stages where they will tackle Real Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg and BATE.

"Returning to the Champions League is something to be proud of," Ranieri told uefa.com.

"It's a huge step from Serie B to the Champions League, but it was necessary to give the whole club and our fans their confidence back.

"There is a great desire, especially from the point of view of the players. They felt the relegation was not fair and that's why they have this desire to make up for it and make up for lost time in Europe.

"This group is very tough. It's logical that we won't sleep well, but the other teams won't sleep well knowing they have to face Juventus."

Juve’s first game of Group H is this Wednesday when they host UEFA Cup champions Zenit at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin.
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Claud · Sep 13, 2008

I'm glad they are back to the CL because they belong there.

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Ranieri Proud Of Champions League Return

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