Del Piero hails Juve´s Champions League boost

Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero has said that back-to-back Champions League wins over Real Madrid have reignited the Turin side's season.

Whilst many were tipping Claudio Ranieri's charges to be one of the main challengers for the Serie A title, they made a slow start to proceedings.

However, the 34 year-old has said that the 2-1 win in Turin and the 2-0 victory in Madrid over the Spanish giants have given the team a renewed sense of belief that they can push on from their current sixth position, three points behind league leaders Inter Milan.

“After the first win over Real Madrid something was released. We became more aware of what we were able to do,” Del Piero said.

“It wasn't that we were playing badly before, but there were problems. Now though we are also playing well,” he told La Gazetta dello Sport.

Next up for Del Piero and Juventus is a potentially tricky home fixture to Genoa on Thursday, a match brought forward to accommodate the Italy v Argentina rugby union test match at Turin's Stadio Olimpico.

Genoa sit one place and one point behind Juventus and boast the current league leading scorer in Diego Milito, who has found the net nine times so far this season, including a hattrick in their most recent result, a 4-0 win over Reggina.

“(Gian Piero) Gasparini is doing a good job, as he did last year. Moreover this year a great attacker in Milito has arrived, a truly great player.

“I saw it (the 4-0 win) and it impressed me greatly. They are organised and run all day. I think this match will be an important benchmark for us.”