Football has a way of making its cruelest stories the most memorable ones. The Juventus home kit from 2002/03 belongs to Pavel Nedved, and to the final he never played.
Lotto produced the shirt that season: black and white vertical stripes in the traditional Juventus pattern, simple in construction, with Lotto's own branding on the chest alongside the club crest. Nothing unusual about the design. The story is entirely in the season it accompanied.
The season
Marcello Lippi's Juventus were the best club side in Italy that year by some distance. Gianluigi Buffon, already established as the best goalkeeper in the world, anchored the defence alongside Lilian Thuram and Fabio Cannavaro. Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet provided the goals. And then there was Nedved.
The Czech midfielder arrived from Lazio in 2001 and within two seasons had become the most important player at the club. In 2002/03 he was operating at a level that made the Ballon d'Or straightforward. He scored decisive goals. He covered ground in both directions. He gave Juventus something no other club in Europe had in their midfield that season.
The semi-final
Juventus met Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League. Over two legs Nedved was exceptional. In the second leg in Turin, with Juventus needing a result, he scored a goal and assisted another. Juventus went through.
He also picked up a yellow card. His second of the competition. He would miss the final.
The image of Nedved in tears at the final whistle, knowing he had played his last game in that season's competition, is one of the more memorable photographs of that era. He had been the reason Juventus were in Manchester. He would not be there.
The final
The final against AC Milan ended 0-0 after extra time. Juventus lost on penalties. Nedved watched from the stands in the Lotto shirt, suited up, unable to influence anything.
That December he collected the Ballon d'Or in Paris. It was the right decision by the voters. It did not make the ending in Manchester any easier to sit with.
The shirt in the catalogue is the one he wore to get Juventus there.
Lotto / Home kit
Juventus 2002/03 home kit
In the ShirtSociety catalogue
