Juve now used to tiny crowds says Capello

Fabio Capello says Juventus have become used to playing their Champions League games in front of tiny crowds after just over 11,000 turned out to watch them beat Austria's Rapid Vienna on Tuesday.

There were huge swathes of empty seats in the 70,000 capacity Delle Alpi stadium which, by contrast, is sure to be packed for Sunday's Serie A clash with rivals Inter.

"We are used to it by now, it is nothing new," said the Juventus coach when asked whether the low key atmosphere had influenced his team's lacklustre first-half display.

"We'll see on Sunday when it is full. Maybe we aren't used to playing with 70,000 fans," Capello added.

While disappointing, Tuesday's crowd was not the worst seen in Turin for a European game.

Last season's group stage game against Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv drew just 6,494 fans.

Even more prestigious opponents than Rapid and Maccabi have failed to spark the enthusiasm of Juve's support base - a crowd of just 18,089 watched Capello's team play Bayern Munich last season.

Juventus plan to redevelop the Delle Alpi stadium, which was built for the 1990 World Cup, cutting the capacity to around 40,000.

¤ Panathinaikos coach Alber-to Malesani praised his young team after the Greeks beat Werder Bremen 2-1 to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout phase on Tuesday. Malesani left out two of his senior players against the Germans, handing starting places instead to 21-year-old Filippos Darlas in midfield and 22-year-old striker Evangelos Mantzios. "Match by match, the team is improving," said Malesani. "But the important thing is that the young players are now cementing their places in the squad and in the starting 11."