JUVE'S CONTE RETURNS

Juventus coach Antonio Conte enjoyed a winning return to the touchline after his four-month ban on Sunday as the Serie A leaders won 1-0 at Palermo
The 43-year-old has been banned from leading his side on matchdays for the past four months after being charged with failure to report two instances of match-fixing while in charge of Siena.
However, he made his return in the Old Lady's 1-0 victory at Palermo on Sunday, and after the game thanked his players for helping him through his absence from Serie A for so long.
"It's inevitable that when you are away on the pitch - the smell of grass, as I defined it three or four weeks ago - for so long, it is a pain," Conte said on Sky Sports Italia. "You do miss something, even if you work with the team throughout the week.
"But, I had to face this situation and I think it was a learning experience in so many ways. And I think the team has responded extraordinarily.
"I want to thank the players, because for me to be able to do in four months what I have done means that I have some special players. Special is the company and maybe I’m a little 'special' too."

Prior to Euro 2012, Conte was accused of misprision of felony by Filippo Carobbio, a former player of Siena, in the recent match-fixing scandal. His lawyer and Juventus president Andrea Agnelli denied his role in the scandal.
 On 1 August 2012, Conte's plea bargain of three months ban was rejected. However, when Conte made the plea bargain he had already agreed that he would later be given the chance to prove his innocence.
 On 10 August 2012 the Italian football federation (FIGC) announced that Juventus coach Antonio Conte is suspended for the next 10 months for failing to report match-fixing in Novara-Siena and AlbinoLeffe-Siena. Proclaiming his innocence of such knowledge his case was appealed.
 On 22 August the Federal Court of Juistice dropped tha accuse about Novara-Siena but confirmed the 10 months ban for AlbinoLeffe-Siena. The Albinoleffe-related part of verdict is motivated by Christian Stellini acceptance of plea bargain and because it was unlikely that Conte can not have known about Stellini's moves; about Novara-related accuse Federal Court member Pietro Sandulli commented that "...it seemed illogical that such a senior and experienced coach would say in the locker room 'we're drawing this one' in front of 25 players".Conte was furious that he was deferred and punished using only accusations of an ambiguous pentito, without any evidence of wrong doing.
 On 23 August Juventus announced to appeal to Italy's sports arbitration panel against this new ban.
 Juventus' management and players dedicated their Supercoppa Italiana win to Conte.
 On September 13 the FIFA , through an official, extended to all international competitions stop for ten months of the Juventus coach for failure to report as part of the match-fixing.
 On 5 October the National Court of Arbitration for Sport has reduced the disqualification in the second degree at four months, allowing the engineer to return to the bench starting from ' 8 December 2012.
  Conte led Juventus to its 28th scudetto with one round to spare by beating Cagliari 2-0. After beating Atalanta 3-1, Juventus finished the league unbeaten, the first team to do so since Serie A expanded to 20 teams and 38 rounds. Juventus lost the Coppa Italia final to Napoli 2-0 therefore failing to finish an entire Italian season unbeaten.
 In spite of the numerous draws conceded by the Bianconeri, Antonio Conte has already won critical acclaim as Juventus manager and earned comparisons with José Mourinho. Like the latter, Conte has developed a reputation because of his obsession with tactics and his ability to win and to bond together his players. However, unlike the cautious Portuguese, Conte favours an attacking brand of football with 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 being his most frequently used formations in Turin.
 In his first 10 months on the Juventus bench, Conte, a former fan favourite as a midfielder for the club, had already reached a number of landmarks. On 17 March 2012, following a 5-0 win over rivals Fiorentina, he equalled Fabio Capello's run of 28 unbeaten games between November 2005 and May 2006. On 20 March 2012, he became the first coach to lead Juventus to a Coppa Italia final since Marcello Lippi in the 2004 Coppa Italia Final. On 25 March, following a 2-0 success at the Juventus Stadium he became the first coach to win both legs of the Derby d'Italia against rivals Internazionale since Fabio Capello in 2005-06.
  Stephan Lichtsteiner scored Juve’s winner early in the second half of a game in which both teams struggled on a difficult pitch that cut up badly following a hailstorm at halftime.
A win which see them cement their position at the Top of the Serie A table.
With Conte back on the touchline will Juventus be up for another round of unbeaten run?
Only time will tell.