Champions League

Antonio Conte: 'Juventus underachieved under Fabio Capello'

By Subhankar Mondal, Reporter | 06 January 2013

Antonio Conte believes that Juventus should have done better than they did in the Champions League under Fabio Capello between 2004 and 2006.

Juventus coach Antonio Conte believes that the Italian club underachieved under Fabio Capello.

The former England coach was in charge of the Bianconeri for two seasons between 2004 and 2006 and won two successive Serie A titles.

However, Juventus failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals in the Champions League under Capello and also lost both the Scudetti because of the Calciopoli scandal.

"I would say that he [Capello] did very little in the Champions League," Conte told reporters.

"Juve in those two years (2004-2005 and 2005-2006) were stratospheric in terms of quality. In fact, I'd say they were stronger than ever: eight players participated in the 2006 World Cup final, there were two Ballon d'Or winners (Pavel Nedved and Fabio Cannavaro) and we had Alessandro Del Piero and Adrian Mutu just on the bench.

"It's the proof that in addition to great players it takes organisation of the game, it takes a certain mentality to match the stage."

Juventus are currently at the top of the Serie A table and have also progressed to the Champions League last 16 this season.