Vincenzo Grifo has expressed his excitement at the prospect of lining up against Juventus in the Europa League Round of 16 with SC Freiburg and has named two former Bianconeri stars as his inspiration: Alessandro Del Piero and Andrea Pirlo.
The Serie A giants will face Grifo’s Freiburg in the Europa League Round of 16 with the first leg played in Turin on March 9.
“For an Italian who grew up in Germany, it is something special,” Grifo admitted in a conversation with La Gazzetta dello Sport.
He continued: “I’ve been feeling very good ever since pre-season. Sometimes there are years when you get injured or aren’t successful and then you get nervous. For me, on the other hand, everything is coming naturally.”
Grifo’s Freiburg are set to feature in the last 16 of the Europa League for the first time in the club’s history after coming out on top of Group G before the break over the winter.
Under the guidance of Christian Streich, Freiburg went undefeated across their six games with Nantes, Qarabag and Olympiacos, coming away with four wins and two draws.
Things aren’t going badly in the Bundesliga either. The Breisgau side are currently fifth in the league, one point outside of the top four and within five points of Bayern Munich at the summit of the table.
Grifo explained: “We are not Bayern or Borussia Dortmund, although we have been doing consistently well in the Bundesliga year after year.
“We were also first and second for a few weeks and now we are fighting for Europe.
“We don’t have the best players, but everyone knows they have to help their teammates and work together for the team. We are very united,” he said.
Grifo has been on scintillating form over this season, boasting 12 goals from 21 league matches as well as a further two in the earlier stages of the Europa League. He has become the most prolific Italian player in the Bundesliga, overtaking Azzurri legend Luca Toni.
Grifo is also building a reputation as one of the best set-piece takers in Germany. In fact, half of the 14 goals he has scored this season have come from the penalty spot: six in the league and another one in Europe.
When asked whether his ability from set pieces will come in handy during the tie with Juve, Grifo said: “Let’s hope so. But we still have to analyse Szczesny and the Bianconeri defence on set pieces.”
And despite being a childhood Inter supporter, Grifo has turned to a pair of former Juve fan favourites for inspiration.
“The important thing is to go on the ball without thinking too much. Then you also need to study: I watched a lot of videos of past specialists, Del Piero and Pirlo above all,” he said.
Hypothetically, if Grifo could remove one player from the Juve squad for the two games with Freiburg, who would he be? “After the Nantes match, I can only say Angel Di Maria. Juventus have many strong players, but he is a World Champion and a fantastic player. It won’t be easy to stop him.”