Sydney FC received a raucous welcome to Italy overnight, as the Sky Blues landed in Jesolo for the start of their pre-season camp.
Sydney FC received a raucous welcome to Italy overnight with fans converging on the airport, bus and team hotel to welcome the Sky Blues and Italian national hero Alessandro Del Piero to Jesolo for the start of a six-match three-week pre-season camp.
The Sydney FC players and staff were met by a wall of noise when they walked out through customs at Venice-s Marco Polo International Airport as a crowd of around 1000 swarmed to catch a glimpse of Del Piero and his Sydney FC team mates.
After negotiating their way through the crowd, TV cameras and photographers, Del Piero gave his team mates a simple taste of what is to come: “Welcome to Italy” he declared as he climbed aboard the team bus, which was delayed leaving the airport as fans surrounded the vehicle and spilled into the car park.
The entrance came after a tough 24-hour trip to Venice, which included a stopover in Dubai but the rewards are rich as a tough, but exciting, pre-season training and friendly match schedule awaits the squad.
Striker Blake Powell was a last minute exclusion from the travelling party but his place was taken by Youth League hopeful Jacob Tratt, who was given leave by NSW Premier League club Sutherland to make the trip to Italy.
The Sky Blues will do a recovery session today before beginning twice daily training sessions ahead of the first match of the tour, against Padova at Padova on Wednesday night (Thursday morning AEST).
