Marotta confident of Juventus success

Juventus manager director Giuseppe Marotta expressed delight with his club’s draw in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

The reigning Italian champions were drawn alongside last season’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid, Olympiacos and Malmo in Group A of the competition.

Juventus has not lifted Europe’s top club trophy since 1996 and have endured disappointing campaigns in recent years, but Marotta believes their draw will give them a great chance to start this season’s competition well.

“We are happy with this draw,” he said. “We can’t say anything different. Champions League, though, is a tournament not a regular league where differences come to surface in the long run.

“Here sometimes episodes, in your favour or not, affect final scores. That said, the qualification to the next stage is and must be within our reach. Hopefully we won’t commit again the recent past mistakes.”

Marotta also talked up the chances of fellow Italian side Roma after their second-place finish in Serie A last season saw them qualify for the tournament for the first time since the 2010-11 competition.

Roma will find it hard to make it out of a group that also includes reigning champions Bayern Munich, English powerhouses Manchester City and Russia’s CSKA Moscow but Marotta insists the capital club has the quality to get through to the knockout rounds.

“Roma find themselves in a tough group. They are at their first European experience of their new cycle and will face problems, but as they were finely built Roma can easily go through,” he said.

“I hope they can do it for the sake of Italian football.”