Sydney FC marquee Alessandro Del Piero says he is a “big chance” to play against Western Sydney Wanderers in Saturday’s first ever derby at Allianz Stadium.
Sydney FC marquee Alessandro Del Piero says he is a “big chance” to play against Western Sydney Wanderers in Saturday-s first ever derby at Allianz Stadium.
The Italian superstar has tripled his training schedule in a bid to overcome a hamstring problem and be ready for the huge match which pits the Sky Blues against their closest rivals.
”It’s a very short problem, fortunately,” said the World Cup winner. “The damage is nothing too bad. We’ll see today and tomorrow for the weekend. There’s a chance I’ll play Saturday. I hope.
”When you’re injured, you work three times more than when you don’t have an injury. That’s why I hope to play soon.
“We can talk better Thursday about how much chance I have of playing on Saturday.
“At the moment everything goes very good, but we have a couple of days to see what happens and if everything is going good, there’s a big chance to play Saturday.”
The former Juventus captain was hounded by Melbourne Heart defenders in his last outing for the club but has no complaints about the physicality of the game.
”I know this is soccer, not another sport where you don’t fight each other,” he said.
”The last match was very hard because six, seven [tackles] from the back is not good. It can cause injury, and danger can happen in different situations.
”But I’m not here for crying and to say, ‘Oh, they kick me’ – I don’t worry. This is the referee’s work, to protect the footballer.”
Del Piero was delighted with the performance of his team mates during their 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix on Sunday, and with the impact made by new coach Frank Farina.
“He’s come and made some tranquillity. He’s a man with a clear idea and this is good for us, especially in this moment. We are feeling better also inside the club.
“This is good but we need to improve and I think we started very good.
“The team played a very good match, we won, I’m very happy about that. We needed a victory. Now we look to play better and better and win some games.”
Tickets for Saturday night’s epic derby clash with Western Sydney Wanderers are still available from ticketek starting from only $25 for adults. Kick off is 7:45pm with the W-League top of the table clash between Sydney FC and Perth Glory starting at 5pm.
