Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri defended his decision to substitute Alessandro del Piero for fullback Paolo de Ceglie during last night's 2-1 defeat by Napoli.

"I was already thinking ahead to Real Madrid, so I thought I'd replace the captain and introduce Marco Marchionni for Hasan Salihamidzic to keep the crosses coming in. However, Christian Poulsen got injured and I had to change my plans," explained Ranieri.

"I don't think it weighed on the team, though, as if anything it should have made the wings more solid, as Napoli were pushing mainly wide.

"When you know there are players in midfield under pressure, you need to help them. You cannot think of what the positive or negative message is from a substitution.

"De Ceglie is a full-back, but an attacking one, and moving Pavel Nedved to the centre improved that line-up to protect the defence. I wanted to tell the team that we should hang on tight and take home the point."