Paddy Agnew/Euroscene: Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedved has a date with destiny at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid tonight
As Italian champions Juventus prepare for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final clash with the Real Madrid All-Stars, it is no exaggeration to suggest Juve's best hopes will be riding on the shoulders of 30-year-old Nedved.
No one who has watched Champions League football this season can have much doubt about the all too obvious clash of footballing styles and cultures embodied by this clash. Dream team Real Madrid, with its cast of household names such as Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, etc, are a side capable of playing a technically gifted, mesmerisingly graceful game that is simply the best.
Juventus, on the other hand, are a more prosaic outfit. Their football is based on a combination of organisation, team spirit and hard work that contrasts sharply with the sheer individual brilliance and creative flair of Real. Nowhere is the contrast more obvious than in the styles of the two teams' key playmakers, Zidane for Real and Nedved for Juventus.
Ironically, it was the departure of Zidane from Juventus to Real two summers ago that signalled a change of tactical direction at the "Old Lady". Coach Marcello Lippi returned to his happy hunting ground in Turin to find that the man around whom the side had revolved for the previous five seasons, namely Zidane, had left.
Lippi had no hesitation in replacing Zidane with Nedved, a player of very different skills but one who had played a key part in Lazio's Italian title win in 2000. Where Zidane possessed languid playmaking skills that could open up a defence with one nonchalant brilliant ball, Nedved provided an "up and at them" direct running attitude that partly compensated for the loss of the great Frenchman.
Once given a free role to play behind the front men (tonight Alessandro Del Piero and either Marco Di Vaio or Frenchman David Trezeguet), Nedved's free-flowing game and ability to score with either foot soon became a major plank in the platform of Juve's title win last season. This year, in a title contest Juventus have all but mathematically won (they are eight points clear with three games to play), he has again been the brightest spark in a side where other potential matchwinners such as Del Piero and Trezeguet have gone missing through injury.
Former Juventus star, Polish midfield "Zibi" Boniek has no doubt about the importance of Nedved to this Juventus team: "Nedved is the only irreplaceable player in the squad and for that reason, it is a crisis for Juventus if he is missing. People like to compare him to me and I find that a great compliment because I reckon he is one of the best midfielders in the world. He has pace, courage and a steely temperament."
Entirely focused on his football, Nedved is someone who, at Lazio and Juventus, has chosen to live in the countryside. Not only does this guarantee peace and quiet but it also provides him with a ready-made training ground since fitness fanatic Nedved likes to start most days with a jog in the parkland around his home, at Mandria, outside Turin.
With his long blond hair and impish face, Nedved can sometimes look like Rin Tin Tin-turned-footballer. Yet, the good looks mask the reality of a player whose trade mark is relentless running and a 110 per cent aggressive attitude. (Given the suspension-enforced absence of Dutchman Edgar Davids, midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi and Uruguyan defender Paolo Montero, those latter attributes will be much needed by Juve tonight.)
Add to those technical accomplishments, an ability to hit viciously, effective benders from corner-kicks and free-kicks, not to mention rapid-fire low crosses from the bye-line, and it is not difficult to see why his form this season has prompted critics to nominate him as a candidate for the European Player of the Year award.
A big performance tonight could go a long way to underwriting that candidacy. More importantly, it could go a long way to seeing Juventus overcome the dream team.
