Well, my love for Juventus is weaker than a mouses fart in a tornado, but i cant deny that they have had some quality players in their time. For that reason i have decided that this thread will be re named the Pavel nedved thread, where we can pay homgae to one of the best European attacking midfielders of all time. A man who gives his all for his club, country, fans and team mates. A man with skill, flair and grace as well as devastating shooting power. All stand up and applaud....PAVEL NEDVED.
I have 2 bits of news on him, both from channel4.com, one is good news, the other, for both me and Juve fans, is bad!
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Here's the good news first:
QUOTE
Nedved continues legal battle
Thursday 14 December, 2006
Juventus and Pavel Nedved are going to the CAF to lodge a new appeal after his five-match Serie B ban was confirmed.
“We feel very aggrieved, because we hoped for a substantial reduction of the ban, which we continue to consider excessive,” said director of sport Alessio Secco.
“This is why we have decided to stage another legal motion in the Federal Court of Appeal.”
Nedved was handed the five-match ban after his red card in the 1-1 draw with Genoa, as he was accused of stamping on referee Stefano Farina’s foot in his protests after the incident.
The Czech hero and 2003 Ballon d’Or winner has sat out one game and won’t be eligible to play at club level again until early 2007.
Its real weird how this incident seems to have blown up. I havent read or seen any concrete proof that he did actually stomp on the refs foot. I have only heard "appeared to" or "allegedly". Its pretty stupid as this is something that should be pretty clearcut!!!
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And now, for the bad, and the reason why i thought this thread needed to be named now!!!
QUOTE
Nedved may Czech out
Thursday 14 December, 2006
Frustrated Juventus ace Pavel Nedved has confirmed that he may hang up his boots at the end of the season.
The Czech made the insinuation after his dismissal against Genoa and has today warned that the current calcio climate is becoming hard to accept.
“I don’t know if I will continue or not, this is not a joke,” he told Tuttosport. “Juventus have changed, but they are the only ones. The rest of the footballing world is exactly the same as before.
“After the summer, referees have decided that when in doubt they will decide against us. They must be thinking that we can suffer a bit now.
“In any case, this does not change my attitude – I am training with the same dedication and passion as before,” concluded the 2003 Golden Ball winner.
Nedved was handed a five-match ban following his Marassi red card when he was found guilty of offending referee Stefano Farina and voluntarily stepping on his foot after being sent off.
An amazed Juventus have lodged an appeal with the verdict expected to be handed out on Thursday.
“I am still very upset about what happened,” continued Nedved. “I was hoping I would forget about it but that is not the case.
“I am a very honest person and I am not saying that what I did wasn’t wrong. I did not behave well with Farina and I was not a good example for the young people who were watching the match.
“I was very angry and I moved aggressively towards the referee to complain, but I never offended him and I never stepped on his foot voluntarily – his report did not state the truth.
“I do not know what to expect from today’s verdict. I never thought I would receive a five-match ban as it’s a very severe punishment.
“I have already said this in the past, but Zinedine Zidane was only banned for three matches and he head-butted Marco Materazzi – this just doesn’t make sense.”
Juventus are hoping to get Nedved’s ban reduced to three games.
A sad state of affairs, that Nedved is being "victimized" of all people from the Juve camp. Its very serious if the referee has actually done what Pavel says he has done. It would be very out of character for Nedved to take his protestations that far!!!
Anyways, with the unfortunate possability that the former Czech republic captain may be retiring from all footabll at the end of the current season, i fell people need to pay respect to him in his own thread!