Juventus (Slivka) 1 – 0 Bologna Primavera

By tdf, March 24, 2014

Fabio Grosso’s second match in charge of the primavera ended with another victory…with 18 year old central midfielder Vykintas Slivka scoring the winner. The Lithuanian U19 star chose a choice time to score his first of the season and let’s hope he can earn a more regular starting role in the slowly re-shaping Primavera outfit.

Having played in every one of our 6 UEFA Youth league games, Slivka has been in and out of the league squad, making only his 11th appearance over the weekend. He has represented his country at both U17 and U18 level and recently made his debut for the Lithuanian U21 side, completing the full 90 minutes in the unfortunate 5-0 defeat to Poland.

The Line-up

Vannucchi

Mattiello Penna Varga Barlocco

Roussos Sakor Slivka

Cevallos

Buenacasa Donis

(4-3-1-2)

The result moves us up to 2nd in the table on 40 points with 21 games played, 5 left to play.

Once the league stage finishes the competition morphs into a tournament. 16 teams in total qualify for the play-0ff stage, on home and away basis. The eight best teams qualify for the Final Eight on a neutral venue. The winners are eligible for the Supercoppa Primavera.

Whilst the two victories since the removal of Zanchetta have been welcome, our form remains sketchy at best. After our hardly awful but still disappointing exit from the inaugural UEFA Youth League at the group stage and subsequent failure to impress in either the coppa italia or Viareggio tournament, all that remains in terms of silverware on offer this season is the league title. It would be wonderful for Grosso and the lads to go all the way, but it would come as no surprise were they continue the trend of failure until the final whistle of the season.

Regardless of the results, its extremely unlikely that Grosso will be retained as Primavera manager for next season. He lacks the experience and is acting presently in a care-taker role.

The smart money is on Della Morte moving up the ranks, after competing a successful season with out U17 squad (Allievi) this term