Lippi hails Juve revival

Juventus coach Marcello Lippi hailed the quality of his team's performance after Thursday's 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in Champions League group D.

French striker David Trezeguet scored twice for the Italian side in a game that had twice been postponed due to fog.

"Today, above all, I watched an excellent Juventus again," Lippi said. "It was a very positive performance and result and what satisfied me the most was the balance we showed as a unit on the field."

After just one win in eight games, Lippi reverted to an orthodox 4-4-2 formation which worked well, with his wide players, including Czech Pavel Nedved, particularly effective.

"We were compact, balanced and we showed great concentration," Lippi added. "When Juventus play like that we are one of the strongest teams in Europe."

The win was all the more impressive given Bayer's form in the German first division, which they lead after an unbeaten run of 14 games.

"They are a very strong team with an excellent record. I didn't expect a 4-0 win of course, but I expected a good, convincing performance and I am very glad that that is exactly what I got," Lippi said.

Bayer had argued strongly against re-arranging the game for Thursday afternoon, and after protracted talks with UEFA they did not arrive back at their hotel, some 80 kilometres outside Turin, until after midnight on Wednesday.

Lippi declined to comment on what influence such preparations may have had on the result, but Bayer coach Klaus Toppmoeller refused to blame the circumstances.

"We had to wait at the stadium until 10:30 last night to find out when we would play and then we had 90 minutes bus journey in the fog to our hotel," Toppmoeller said. "But we lost the game on the field and I give my congratulations to Juventus."

"We lost out in the one-on-one battles and our collective game didn't work at all. There were one or two good moves but generally we gave the ball away too much."

"I spoke to all the players in the dressing room and they are very clear that we have to give a much improved performance against Werder Bremen on Saturday. We have to change things very quickly."

"Today shows that in the second phase of the Champions League, if you don't prepare well and don't play well then you will get these kind of results. But now we have to put this behind us quickly."