With Torino set to host Juventus on Sunday, Forza Italian Football recaps the last time the maroon side of Turin claimed city bragging rights.
Last weekend the Turin Shroud went on public display at the city’s Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista for the first time since 2010, with a million people already signed up to see it.
Yet there is something even less frequently witnessed in Turin over the last two decades – a Torino victory over neighbours Juventus.
In order to recap Torino’s last victory against their city-rivals, one has to go back a staggering 20 years to April 1995. Even the most pessimistic of Toro fans wouldn’t have expected to be waiting almost two decades for a victory.
Ironically, part of that Torino side was Gianluca Pessotto, who oversaw Juventus Primavera’s 2-1 defeat by their Il Toro counterparts last Sunday. In some contrast to the senior side’s current situations, that victory leaves the Old Lady trailing second placed Torino by six points.
Although suffering their second relegation to Serie B of their history in 1989, Torino had plenty of confidence leading into the Derby della Mole back in 1995.
The club had won the Coppa Italia as recently as 1993 – beating Juventus in the semi-final on aggregate – and finished runner-up to Ajax in the previous seasons UEFA Cup Final.
Even their 1975-76 Scudetto will not have seemed as distant a memory then as it will now to those in attendance at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.
Torino had also beaten the Bianconeri in the first derby that season 3-2, Ruggiero Rizzitelli and Gianluca Vialli hitting braces, respectively, before Jocelyn Angloma netted the winner.
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However, despite parading the talents of three-time African Footballer of the Year and Champions League winner Abedi Pele, Il Toro were fighting relegation.
Juventus, though, had assembled a star-studded squad and were marching towards a league and cup double under coach Marcello Lippi.
Needing points for survival, as much as wanting a ‘double’ of their own over their bitter rivals, Nedo Sonetti’s side got off to the perfect start on six minutes.
A poor clearance saw the ball returned straight into the path of striker Rizzitelli who then watched anxiously on as his shot clipped goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi and looped into the net.
On 23 minutes Juventus had the equaliser their league form suggested would always arrive, but not without it’s own slice of luck.
Captain Roberto Baggio whipped in low cross towards the front post and Torino defender Roberto Maltagliati inadvertently diverted the ball past Luca Pastine via his knee.
However, it took just nine minutes for the Granata to regain control and ultimately win the match. Full-back Angloma burst past Paolo Sousa on the right to send in a wonderful cross, which captain Rizzitelli rose majestically between two Bianconeri players to head powerfully past Peruzzi.
Midway through the second-half Rizzitelli had the chance to put the game beyond the Old Lady and claim a memorable hat-trick, but Peruzzi just managed to palm away his delicate chip
Juventus’ attempted recovery was then dented by Sousa’s being dismissed on 63 minutes, while Maltagliati added to his own goal with a red card, albeit with just minutes remaining.
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Victory helped save Torino from the ignominy of relegation – eventually finishing 11th in an 18 team Serie A – during a year in which Juventus dominated Italian football.
The following season, though, the two clubs continued travelling in distinctly contrasting directions.
Although failing to retain their Serie A crown, Juventus – with Pessotto now a Bianconeri player – captured the 1995/96 Champions League and were losing finalists the next two years.
In the other half of the city, Torino succumbed to relegation that season, yo-yoing between Serie A and B for most of the next two decades and even suffered bankruptcy in 2005.
Success in this Sunday’s 232nd Derby della Mole will not stop rivals Juventus claiming a fourth consecutive Scudetto this season, however, it would reignite the Torinisti’s fading hopes that they can, on occasion, topple their highly decorated cousins.
