Legends of Turin's finest ! (Series 5 Gianluca Zambrotta)

Gianluca Zambrotta was regarded as one of the best full backs of his time and it is hard to disagree. Zambrotta began his Serie A career at Bari where he instantly impressed being the first Bari player to play for the national side in 50 years so it came as no surprise when Juve came in for the defender and payed €15,493,707 in 1999 to get him in a black and white top. Zambrotta played 294 times for Juventus and was successful in doing so winning 2 Serie A's, 2 Supercoppa Italiana's and 1 UEFA Intertoto Cup. In 2006 Zambrotta's Juventus career came to an end as unlike Del Piero and Buffon, Zambrotta decided to leave Serie B bound Juventus after the Calciopoli scandal. Many of Europe's finest came in for the full back however he decide to end his Bianconeri career with a €14 million pound move to Barcelona.

Zambrotta did not only do well in his club career but also in his international career. As said before Zambrotta was the first Bari player to play for the national side in 50 years but it wasn't really till 2003 when Paolo Maldini retired from international football. Zambrotta's only success for Italy was in 2006 when Italy won the World Cup. Zambrotta was doubt going into the tournament with a thigh injury but he only missed the first game and when he returned he made a huge impact even scoring a goal against Ukraine. Unfortunately Zambrotta was two off of the 100 appearance mark for Italy but nevertheless the 98 appearances he made were all great.

Juve News Today 30/08/13

Over the last few weeks Juve have been interested in Manchester United winger Nani but Juventus CEO Giuseppe Marotta has said that the deal is off as the Portugese player has agreed a new deal at Manchester United.

Sassuolo are now favourites to get Juventus youngster Luca Marrone. The 23 year old has sparked a lot of interest from all over Europe but now the Serie B champions are looking close to signing him.

Matri has joined Milan where he began his career for €11 million. This deal had been talked about for a while but was finally completed yesterday. In my opinion this is the wrong decision for Matri because if he was looking for first team football and he couldn't get that behind Tevez, Llorente, Quagliarella and Giovinco then how is he meant to get a game instead of Balotelli, El Sharaawy, Robinho and Niang.

Real Madrid have made an enquiry into French starlet Paul Pogba however Guiseppe Marotta has rejected the approach and said that he is not for sale. This is on the back of Pogba's agent saying that if Bale is worth £85 million then Pogba is worth twice that amount.

The draw for the Champions League group stages were held yesterday. Juventus were drawn in group B alongside Real Madrid, Galatasary and FC Copenhagen but the biggest positive out was finding out that Miss Switzerland Melanie Winiger is a Juventus fan.

Legends of Turin's Finest ( Series 4 Claudio Gentile)

Claudio Gentile was easily one of my favourite players of all time. He was a complete rock at the back and he was feared by almost everyone and if you were to look up "Man Marking" in the footballing dictionary there would be written simply "Claudio Gentile - 1982". Even though he had a great club career his whole career is known by his performances in the 1982 World Cup which was one of the greatest set of defensive performances ever and it was up against arguably the best ever players to set a foot on the pitch.

In 1973 Gentile made his move from Serie B club Varese to Juventus and instantly impressed in his first game against Ascoli in the Coppa Italia. Gentile made 414 senior appearances for Juventus in 11 years winning one UEFA Cup, one European Cup Winners Cup, two Coppa Italia's and six Serie A's. Despite all of this if you ask any fan who Claudio Gentile was they would not say about his time at Juventus but his performances in the 1982 World Cup. Gentile was given the toughest job of all ... man marking arguably the best player of all time Diego Maradona. Gentile kept Maradona in his pocket the whole game and didn't give Maradona a single chance by man marking him so well. Italy then went on to win the game and progress to the next round which was a surprise to everyone as Italy went into the game underdogs. Italy then went into the next game against Brazil underdogs and once again Gentile was given the hardest job of all, man marking Zico. Zico was terrified of Gentile and it showed when once again Gentile kept a World Class player in his pocket which helped them beat the favourites once again. These performances were regarded as one of the main reasons Italy won the 1982 World Cup and Gentile is now known as one of the most feared players of all time despite this Gentile was never given a red card in his career.

Juve News Today 28/08/13

Juventus could be about to make a move for 29 year old Dusan Basta who plays at Udinese. Reports understand Juve have made an enquiry into the player and could make an offer by the end of the window.

Fiorentina are set to pull out of the race for Luca Marrone as they know it will be a struggle to persuade Juve to let him leave.

Barcelona young talent Buenacasa has said that he wants to leave the Spanish giants with Juve monitoring the player. Buenacasa is a 17 year old striker who is said to be one of Barca's best young talents for years and has even been likened to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Another youngster Juve have set their sights on is young 18 year old defender Marc Oliver-Kempf. The promising young talent who currently plays for Frankfurt doesn't just have interest from Juventus but
also Borussia Dortmund.

Reports understand that Juventus are very interested in Manchester United winger Nani who hasn't had a lot of game time recently due to an injury. Manchester United have put a €13 million price tag on the player and Juve are considering an offer for the Portuguese.

Legends of Turin's Finest (Series 3 Fabio Cannavaro)

Fabio Cannavaro was widely known as one of the best defenders of all time and easily the best defender of his generation. He didn't spend a huge amount of time at Juventus playing only 101 games in total but nevertheless he had an extremely fruitful club and International career. Fabio Cannavaro was known as the "Muro di Berlino" by Italian fans which translates to "The Berlin Wall". Unfortunately Cannavaro's career at Juventus is not renowned as one of the best parts of his career. He joined from Inter in 2004 on Deadline Day. He re united with his past teammates Lilian Thuram and Gianluigi Buffon who all played together at Parma. While at Juve Cannavaro won two Scudetto's however after the 2006 World Cup the titles were taken away for Match Fixing. Due to this Juventus were relegated to Serie B where much to the fans disappointment Cannavaro left for Madrid. However this was the last time Juventini were going to see Cannavaro play in the Black and White of Juventus as he rejoined three years later from Real Madrid. He started off well at Juventus and looked to be winning the fans over again until an Europa League tie against Fulham where he was sent off early in the second leg which led to Juve's departure in the competition. This was the beginning of his downfall and as the season went on it was becoming more and more evident that he was not the player he once was. After having the worst season in over a decade Juventus decided to not renew Cannavaro's contract.

Cannavaro is most known for his International career. He started his international career winning when he was part of the u21 team in which he won two consecutive European U21 Championships. He made his first appearance for the first team aged just 23 and impressed a lot in his early Italian career. However what he is most well known for is the 2006 World Cup. Cannavaro captained the side to their four World Cup win. Cannavaro did not miss a single minute of the competition along with Gianluigi Buffon and the team only let in two goals throughout the whole competition. Later that year Cannavaro received the Ballon D'or. Cannavaro also holds the record for most International appearances of 136.

Juve News Today 26/08/13

Antonio Conte has said that he never wanted to sell Emanuele Giaccherini to Sunderland and the departure of him shows the difficulties that Italian football is having.

Reports are saying that the Bianconeri have rejected two bids of €25 million from Manchester United and Arsenal for Paul Pogba.

According to reports in Italy Juve and Everton are in talks over the possible transfer of Luca Marrone.

Juventus are thought to be showing Interest in Cagliari's midfield star Nainggolan.

Juventus are increasing their interest in Brazilian wonder kid Adryan who has received interest from some of Europe's top clubs this Summer.

Sampdoria vs Juventus Match Review !

The Bianconeri started their 2013/14 as they mean to go on ... winning. Juve's first game of the season was away to Sampdoria where the Bianconeri haven't been successful in their last five visits. Despite this Juve were favourites and put out a very strong team of Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Asamoah, Pogba, Vidal, Pirlo, Lichtsteiner, Vucinic and Tevez.

Juve started the game extremely well and came close to going one up when Pirlo had a shot from long range tipped over the bar by Sampdoria keeper Da Costa. Minutes after this Sampdoria could have been rewarded a penalty when he was pulled down by Chiellini however the officials decided that the foul was committed outside of the box. Juventus then came extremely close to going ahead when Asamoah had an excellent diving header tipped over the bar acrobatically by Da Costa. The first half ended goalless but Juve's dominance was proven in the statistics at half time as Juve had six shots whereas Sampdoria didn't have a shot at all. Juve came out to the second half playing with the same tempo as the first which was fast and Sampdoria found it hard to keep up with them and the fast pace of Juve payed of and they finally got the goal that they deserved. Vidal played a brilliant ball through to Pogba who slotted the ball across the box to Tevez who scored on his Serie A debut. Sampdoria managed to score just minutes after from a free kick but the goal was disallowed as the scorer Costa was offside. The Bianconeri then managed to control the game and doing this they slowed the tempo down. Juve dominated the rest of the game and in the last few minutes the win was confirmed as Sampdoria's Castellini was sent off for a two footed challenge on Lichtsteiner.

I think that this 1-0 over Sampdoria was a great result for the Bianconeri and a great way to start the season. Every Juve player impressed and proved that Juve are the rightful favourites for the Scudetto. The result was made even sweeter as Milan failed to win at Verona where Luca Toni scored two goals to help them beat Juve's rivals 2-1. I think this win for Juventus is just a sighter of what to expect from the Bianconeri during the season and that is winning.