Zidane & Henry at Juve

It's 1999 and Juventus is about to play Cagliari, the Italian giants field some legendary names Zidane, Deschamps, Davids, Conte, Peruzzi, Fonseca with Thierry Henry on the bench. They're expected to win this but right off the bat Cagliari is the one to get the first chance and it's almost a goal if not for Peruzzi's heroics. Zidane will be Juve's brightest spark in the first half. Cagliari have another chance and a very good shout for a penalty. Roberto Muzi certainly believes so. Zinedine Zidane has been given a free roll and he pops up all around the pitch. Henry has just joined Juventus this month and the camera is panned to him. Although he hasn't reached prime stardom yet he's already a World Cup winner with France six months prior. A beautiful first-time pass from Zidane finds Fonseca but he fails to score. Juve is punished for not tries to stretch for a ball and hurts himself in the process. It's turning out to be a difficult game for Juve and Lippi must change something soon. Another game, another reminder that Serie A was brutally physical. Some very strong tackles here. It seems like Zidane is playing through pain in his hip. This is proof that even if you're Zinedine Zidane, most of the time you can't win a game by yourself. You need the players around you to step up too. Antonio Conte bangs his knee into a Cagliari player and is in visible distress. Some players change a lot in appearance over the years but finally Thierry Henry looks almost the same even after retirement. Cagliari is playing really rough out there. Even Zanetti's teammates tell him to chill. If you're wondering, no he's not related to Javier Zanetti. Davids finds Zidane in the left channel and the Frenchman sends a great delivery but a Snyder misses from a close range. Zidane's class shines despite a bad day at the office for the team. Marcello Lippi makes a change at halftime. Conte is off for Thierry Henry. Zidane and Zanetti are having a good battle. It seems that Christian Zanetti has been tasked with personally marking the Frenchman. They are trying to find Henry as an outlet on the left but the connection is not clicking. Henry recently spoke about his time at Juventus. He said he was still very young and relied heavily on his pace. Later at Arsenal he became far more dangerous by reading the game, focusing on technique and studying defenders to beat them. But Henry here was still wrong and lacked experience. Things get worse for Juve. The referee believes a Cagliari player was fouled in the box. Also, why is Montero reaching his arm out like that? Penalty to Cagliari. Peruzzi makes a great save! Great touch from Henry to link the play and it leads to a shot. It's not a matter of effort. Henry really is trying out there to make a difference. Juve is getting frustrated and this is evident in David's horrendous tackle. It just doesn't feel like Juve has a clear plan when they have the ball. Henry links with Amoruso. It's a funny goal from Lippi. He's trying to take advantage of the ability of the Croatian on the Tudor. He's scored his only goal in the only 4-3 win for the Bianconeri. Henry is in his own position. He doesn't give up to De Patrick or Marcellari. Henry crosses from the back and Zanoncelli. Marcellari avoids the corner kick and tries to remedy it, but the ball is pulled out. It was also touched by Henry, maybe a ball followed by De Patrick. Cross for Sneijder. He stretches his shoes! Another brilliant save to keep Sneijder out. He takes off his shoes and then comes back in. Ball for Iuliano. Zidane doesn't make it. Pessotto, another cross. He continues the siege. Header! Cavani always has the advantage for a 1-0. A good second half for the Dutch after a bad first half. The pass for Henry. Juventus works the ball very nicely into the box. But Henry can't get the ball out of his feet to take a shot. You can see Edgar Davids' value to the team. He was the engine who could raise the team's tempo and urgency from deep. The cross to the far post, but there's no one there. It's a mistake by Henry. Marcello moves to Montero. The cross for Henry, who has now moved to the right. He's got Villa on him. He turns towards the penalty area. Henry, ahead of Mourouso. He recovers on Zanoncelli. There's also Tudor. He manages to free Cagliari's defence. Zidane continues Juventus' offensive action. Henry misses the ball. It hasn't been a great day for the two players. Cagliari struggles to get out of the defensive box. Even though Mouzzi has been dangerous in the counter-attack. Zidane finds a chance for Davids. Another pass to Zidane. Davids gets the ball. Now it's Henry. He shoots. Montero is good at stealing the ball. Henry. There's no shortage of technical qualities for the French player. Livio and Mouzzi on the ball. It's the best Mouzzi who can shoot at the same time. There's only Davids in the midfield of Juventus. A dangerous counter. But Henry tracks back and uses his pace to clean it up. A great delivery from Zidane. But Montero can't hit it on target. Hit by Montero. Zidane's shot. He heads it to Montero. That's full time and Juventus suffers a shock defeat at the hands of a stubborn Cagliari. This result reflected a turbulent season for Juventus. Marcello Lippi's side, dominant just a couple years earlier, was in a transitional phase. Alessandro Del Piero had suffered a serious knee injury just a couple of months prior and his absence left a massive creative and goal-scoring void. Without their talisman and with new signings like Henry still adapting, Juventus struggled to find rhythm. They finished that Serie A campaign in a disappointing 7th place, a rare sight for a club of their stature. This match in Cagliari was just one of several reminders that this season was not going to follow the usual script in Turin. 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