ITALY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Juventus get off to a poor start in the Italian Serie B with a 1-1 draw away to Rimini

Juventus's bid to make a speedy return to Serie A got off to a bad start when they were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Rimini on Saturday (September 9). Italy's most successful club, who were ordered by a sports tribunal to start this season in the second-division Serie B on minus 17 points for their part in a match-fixing scandal, seemed on course for a win when they went ahead in the 60th minute through midfielder Matteo Paro. Their grip on the contest appeared to tighten shortly afterwards when opposition midfielder Domenico Cristiano was sent off for a challenge on Pavel Nedved. A defensive mix-up in the 74th minute allowed Adrian Ricchiuti to equalise however and the result left Juventus on minus 16 points. Juventus's players will hope that the match in the east coast seaside resort does not prove to be a bitter taste of what awaits them up and down the country this season. Rimini's tiny Romeo Neri stadium holds fewer than 10,000 spectators and it was packed by fans curious to witness Juve's first match in their history outside the top flight. On paper the contest was a mismatch. While Rimini's workmanlike squad spent most of last season battling against relegation, Juventus's starting line-up boasted two World Cup winners -- goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and striker Alessandro Del Piero -- and former European Footballer of the Year Nedved. Afterwards, Juventus coach Didier Deschamps said he was disappointed with the result, adding: "Of course this is not a Serie A stadium. We knew we had to meet new teams, new stadiums. These are teams used to playing in another division, maybe the fact that there was a high expectation on this first match also took some of our energy, psychologicaly speaking. "We have this pressure on us beginning this season, we thought so much about all this that maybe we lost something on the way to this match. I'm never satisfied when I don't win a game."

ITN Source | September 10, 2006

Tags:. .went. .result. .allowed. .seemed. .held