When Massimo Oddo’s side travel to face the Bianconeri in Serie A this weekend, the 40-year-old coach will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and cause an upset.
When Pescara meet Juventus this weekend, they will do so in the relegation zone. The two sides have not met frequently in their history, but when they have crossed paths, it has often seen the Delfini struggling while the Bianconeri have marched onwards towards triumph. The meetings between the two, however, have not always followed type.
It was not a great Juventus side who completed their away fixtures with a trip to already rlegated Pescara in May 1993, but they were packed with household names as ever. Such is the Juventus way that even during a ‘down’ season, they had won the UEFA Cup just a fortnight beforehand.
In truth, that competition provided the active element of the season, and while the Bianconeri battled in the league, Milan disappeared over the horizon as the season approached its close.
For Pescara, they were haunted by relegation as in most of their sojourns to the top tier. Along with a similarly abject Ancona side, they propped up the table for most of the duration and their return to Serie B became a formality as Spring turned to Summer.
Despite the lack of competitive element, though, these games must be played out. To that end, Giovanni Trappattoni’s side travelled to the Stadio Adriatico as heavy favourites. They had lost just once to Pescara in their history, five years previously, when a Delfini team containing Gian Piero Gasperini managed to edge a 2-0 victory.
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That win helped Pescara to a heady 16th position in Serie A, while Juventus were as low as sixth.
On a glorious May afternoon, Roberto Baggio handed over the pennant to his opposite number, and captained a side containing the likes of Fabrizio Ravanelli, Antonio Conte and Andreas Möller.
Ravanelli was to strike first, lashing home a low shot from twenty yards after just two minutes. Business as usual, it seemed, was resumed.
Pescara were not without some celebrated names of their own and were not about to give up the ghost on their season quite yet. Stefano Borganovo was given the opportunity to reacquaint himself with an uncharacteristically out of touch Baggio, and Dunga had made a similar trip from Florence to the coast.
It was another familiar name who brought Pescara level just after the half hour mark. Although his departure in the summer was almost a formality by this stage, Massimiliano Allegri began the fightback against Juventus by converting a penalty.
Allegri spoke after the game, telling of the pastures new that awaited him. It was thought that the opportunity he discussed grasping was with Parma, but he eventually transferred to Cagliari, the Isolani wooed by his impressive 12 goals from midfield.
After the break, Juventus folded. Borgonovo got his goal shortly after the restart before a Massimo Carrera own goal put the game beyond doubt ten minutes later. Ravanelli had seen an opportunity to bring things level just before Pescara’s third goal, but saw his effort saved.
By the time Möller saw himself dismissed for dissent it was clear it was not to be Juventus’ day. Not that Vincenzo Zucchini, on the Delfini’s bench saw it that way. After Antonio Martorella and Ottavio Palladini had completed the scoring, his side had routed Juventus by a historic 5-1 margin.
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For all Pescara’s intent, Juventus looked flat and their midweek UEFA Cup victory looked to have taken some life out of the legs. Ravanelli’s strike two minutes in was their best moment, and after that the Delfini took control.
Yet Zucchini was unimpressed.
“The five goals were too many,” he told the press after the victory, “I would have been happier if had been 3-1. The problem is probably that some players were individuals rather than thinking of their opponents.”
His president had no such qualms and was delighted to give some positive memories to a painful season, especially after a game that saw banners held up by some factions of Pescara’s support criticising the running of the club.
“We are leaving our real supporters with a happy memory,” he accepted, “but if I’d made some decisions before, we might have been safe.
As it was Pescara fell into Serie B with barely a whimper and have not beaten Juventus since 1993. It is fair to assume that if Massimo Oddo’s side were to win 5-1, he might not be quite so restrained.
