Last time Melbourne Victory played Juventus, Kevin Muscat was club captain and Leigh Broxham was a 20-year-old just making his way in the Hyundai A-League.
Muscat and Broxham are the two surviving members from the international friendly between the two teams in 2008.
In the time since, Muscat has become a Championship-winning coach and Broxham has racked up more than 200 appearances in the Hyundai A-League.
Eight years ago, more than 43,000 fans packed the then named Telstra Dome to witness a classy display by the Italian giants, which ended 4-1 in their favour.
Similarly to this Saturday night’s clash in the International Champions Cup Australia at the MCG, Juventus did not travel with its full complement of players.
But fans left the stadium with a understanding of the Bianconeri’s strength, with Nicola Legrottaglie, Rafaelle Palladino (twice) and Marco Marchionni finding the scoresheet.
Victory’s Costa Rican midfielder Carlos Hernandez provided his own fireworks with a stunning long-range strike in the second half, but the night belonged to the Italian champions.
“They were a different class,” Victory striker Archie Thompson said of Juventus at the time.
“They didn’t have their strongest side but they still looked incredible. It would have been a bit scary if (David) Trezeguet, (Alessandro) del Piero and all those guys were there, but it was good the guys held up well.
“We’re obviously disappointed we copped a few goals like we did at the end there, but I think it was a good spectacle.”
Melbourne Victory 1 (Hernandez 57′)
Juventus 4 (Legrottaglie 7′, Palladino 65’/90+4′, Marchionni 90′)
Venue: Telstra Dome
Crowd: 43,357
Referee: Ben Williams
Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2.Kevin MUSCAT (c), 4.Steven PACE, 6.Steve PANTELDIS, 7.Matthew KEMP, 8.Grant BREBNER, 9.Daniel ALLSOPP, 10.Archie THOMPSON, 11.Joseph KEENAN, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 13.Kaz PATAFTA, 14.Adrian CACERES, 15.Leandro LOVE, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 17.Daniel VASILEVSKI, 18.Leigh BROXHAM, 19.Evan BERGER, 21.Sebastian RYALL, 22.Nick WARD, 23.Nathan ELASI, 24.Billy CELESKI, 25.Tom PONDELJAK, 30.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk)
Juventus squad: 2.Alessandro BIRINDELLI, 5.Jonathan ZEBINA, 6.Cristiano ZANETTI, 12.Gianmarco FIORY, 13.Jess VANSTRATTAN, 20.Raffaele PALLADINO, 25.Guglielmo STENDARDO, 27.Michele PAOLUCCI, 28.Cristian MOLINARO, 29.Andrea ROSSI, 30.TIAGO Cardoso Mendes, 31.Cristiano NOVEMBRE, 32.Marco MARCHIONNI, 33.Nicola LEGROTTAGLIE, 34.Cristian PASQUATO, 36.Luca CASTIGLIA
Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur are taking part in the 2016 International Champions Cup Australia, presented by Audi.
Victory will open the tournament against Juventus at the MCG on Saturday night. Tickets are available here.
Victory will then face Atletico in a tour match at Geelong’s Simonds Stadium on Sunday, July 31. Tickets are available here.
Renew or join as a Melbourne Victory member and stand Arm in Arm with us in 2016/17. Click here for more details.
