Del Piero Not Losing Sleep Over Ballon D'Or

After finishing as the top scorer in Serie A last season and making a brilliant start to the current campaign with no less than six winning free kicks, you'd think Juventus captain Alex Del Piero would be a front-runner for this year's Ballon d'Or, which will be assigned in December.

However, due to his age (he just turned 34) and the fact that Juventus did not win any silverware this year, there are other more likely candidates, namely Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo, who was top scorer in both the Premier League and the Champions League last season, and Barcelona wizard Lionel Messi.

Today Del Piero talked about the Ballon d'Or and his extraordinary form at the moment.

"My best moment of the season? Undoubtedly the brace at the Bernabeu stadium," he said. "The Ballon d'Or would be nice, I won't deny it, but perhaps there were periods in my career where I deserved it more. I think about it, sure, but I don't lose any sleep over it."

On the national team, which has been his Achilles' heel lately, with his last goal coming against Germany at the 2006 World Cup, he said: "The 2010 World Cup could be the cherry on the cake of my career, but it's still too far away, for now I think about Juve.

"[Coach Marcello] Lippi isn't calling me up to the national team? Apparently he is considering other players right now, there's always been respect between the two of us."

Finally, on Thursday night's match against Genoa, Pinturicchio said: "They say too much praise can hurt, we have received a lot of it the last few days. Thursday against Genoa we will see what effect it has had on us, we'll have to be careful because we are facing one of the most in-form teams."

Juventus are back in the race for the title, as they are just three points below leaders Inter, but face a stern test against 7th placed Genoa, who are just one point below them.

Danilo Pochini