Are You There God? It's Me, Valeri

Bugarian striker Valeri Bojinov scored twice against his former club as a youthful Juventus team full of young samplings came from behind to top Lecce. The Bianconeri were without 11 first-teamers due to injury and suspension, but they kept their heads to send Lecce packing without any points. Bojinov fired in the equalizer after robbing a Lecce defender and he then curled in a 25-yard freekick to give his side the lead. The game was then basically over for Lecce, who played the last 22 minutes with ten men.

One the many positives this afternoon had to be the performance of Antonio Mirante in place of the suspended Gianluigi Buffon. He kept Zdenek Zeman's side at bay for over an hour. A satisfied Didier Deschamps commented after the game:

"I was really pleased with the team's attitude. It's great to see [Paolo] De Ceglie score, [Dario] Venitucci play with personality and character. . . the youngsters and the champions together form a formidable group. Apart from Bojinov and [Raffaele] Palladino, who have already played in Serie A, you need to let the youngsters grow with patience. The first goal gave [Bojinov] him confidence, seeing as he'd had a few problems in the first half. He's young though, he just needs to improve his build-up play. We had a couple of chances in the first half. Lecce showed they are a quality side which likes to keep possession. We had the right mentality out there and after going a goal down, we believed in ourselves and turned things round."

The win leaves Juve in second place behind Napoli, one point off the pace. Their next league game is Friday when they travel south to take on Genoa. [CNN, Juventus official site]

In other Juve news:

• While the kid scored twice today, the news Friday was that he was unsure of his future with the club. [Channel 4]
• The club's director general Jean-Claude Blanc: "We have renovated the club and we want truth and honesty to be our main characteristics." After the Calciopoli scandal, I can only hope he means that they don't want to be known as cheaters. Though here he's actually talking about retaining players, one in particular. [Clubcall]
• I'm quite happy here, but thank you for asking. [Channel 4]

-ac