Juventus return to Vigo on Thursday with Balaídos preparing to revisit one of Celta’s defining European performances: the 4-0 dismantling of the Italian side in March 2000. Haim Revivo, who played in that famous night, believes Claudio Giráldez’s team must meet the occasion with courage rather than caution if they are to create another upset.
The former Israel international was at the Martínez Valero on Sunday to watch Elche draw 0-0 with Celta, a fixture carrying a personal link for him. His son Roy is Elche’s left-back, and Revivo said he could not miss seeing his son face the club where he became a Balaídos favourite in the late 1990s.
That goalless league match bore little resemblance to the European occasion still held close in Vigo. Celta had lost the first leg of their UEFA Cup last-16 tie 1-0 in Turin, despite creating chances, before turning the contest around emphatically a week later.
A night when Celta took control
Revivo started the first match in Italy and came on early in the second half of the return leg in place of Alexander Mostovoi. By then, Víctor Fernández’s side were already 3-0 ahead and went on to complete a 4-0 victory over Carlo Ancelotti’s star-filled Juventus.
“It was among Celta’s greatest nights at Balaídos, not simply because we beat Juventus 4-0 but because of the way we played,” Revivo said. “It felt as though we were Juventus and they were another team. They chased the ball and it was always with a Celta player.”
He felt Juventus had underestimated the scale of the task after escaping Turin with a narrow first-leg advantage. Revivo recalled that Zinedine Zidane was among those on the bench, while Ancelotti left out other regular starters, with the visitors apparently expecting a straightforward passage.
“We were unfortunate in the first game because we did not score despite having many opportunities,” he said. “I think Juventus expected the second leg to be easier. They thought they would win 3-0, go through and head home. Instead, they came up against what was, at that time, the best footballing team in Europe.”
The night ended with an unusual scene away from the stadium. Revivo said Claude Makelele took him and another Celta player to Juventus’s hotel to meet members of the visiting squad. They spoke with Zidane, Edgar Davids and others over coffee, but the match itself was left untouched.
Revivo’s message for the new meeting
For Celta to trouble Juventus again, Revivo says the approach must be proactive. The 54-year-old, who represented the Galician club from 1996 until 2000, warned against retreating once possession is lost.
“It depends on the way Celta play,” he said. “If we are frightened and drop back whenever we lose the ball, I do not think we can beat Juventus. You have to take risks. In our time at Balaídos, when we lost it, we went forward to press and win it back as quickly as possible.”
He also identified Iago Aspas as central to Celta’s hopes. Revivo accepts that the forward may no longer be able to cover the pitch for a full 90 minutes, but believes his influence extends beyond the moments he spends on the ball.
“Iago Aspas has to be involved,” Revivo said. “Even in limited minutes, he can always produce something because of his confidence. When the players around him see Iago, they believe as well.”
Revivo played alongside Mostovoi and calls the Russian the best player he shared a pitch with, but he places Aspas in a special position in Celta’s history because the forward came through the club’s academy. In Revivo’s view, that makes him a greater symbol for the supporters.
His attachment to Vigo remains strong. Revivo recalled the welcome he received after joining during Horacio Gómez’s presidency, including being lent Gómez’s daughter’s red Seat Ibiza while he waited to buy a car. On his first day, he spent 10 minutes outside the Don Balón café beside Balaídos trying to find reverse gear, unaware that the mechanism required him to push the lever forwards first.
Twenty-six years after the Juventus rout, the details still belong to Celta’s European memory. The challenge on Thursday is to give Balaídos another night worth carrying forward.
