Juventus manager: why all the fuss about us training at Murray Park?

Monday 11 February 2013

Juventus manager Antonio Conte admits he is bemused by the commotion surrounding Juventus's decision to train at Rangers' Murray Park training complex this morning.

He told a press conference tonight: "It was only really through the Italian press that I learned that there was such surprise and astonishment here in Scotland that we had used Rangers' training pitch.

"I have to say I found some of the criticisms rather strange. The choice was a purely technical one. "The clubs were able to reach this agreement. We needed a training pitch with two goalposts and as far as I'm concerned that's it." The decision by Rangers' Charles Green to offer the facilities to a team facing his Old Firm rivals was seen in some quarters as deliberately provocative Meanwhile Conte, responding to Celtic manager Neil Lennon having warned doubters not to underestimate his side, praised the Hoops squad and claimed that striker Gary Hooper could be a success in Serie A. He said: "If anyone has underestimated Celtic, it has certainly not been us. We have great respect for them. "We have followed Celtic very closely and they were very strong against Spartak, Benfica and Barcelona and even before that in the qualifiers. "They are a very good team. To beat Barcelona here and to go close in the Nou Camp is proof of that. "We are going to have to be very careful tomorrow night." Lennon will wait to see how defender Efe Ambrose is when he returns to Glasgow in the morning following Nigeria's 1-0 African Cup of Nations final win over Burkina Faso last night. However, Conte said of his Ghana midfielder, Kwadwo Asamoah, who was also away at the tournament: "Asamoah came back yesterday and it really would be asking a lot, it would be crazy after a month and half away to expect him to be able to play tomorrow. "

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Juventus manager: why all the fuss about us training at Murray Park?

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED