"I'm proud to be a juventino, to be a bandiera, like you define me to be often, in reality I'm just a small part of a big black & white bandiera (flag) that grows with the years and if you look closely your name is part of it... To continue making this bandiera grow we need everybody: let's stay united." - Alessandro Del Piero

So, here it is, Opening Day. There really is nothing like it, no matter what your sport, nor your team.

Everyone starts level on points, everyone's thoughts are of what the season ahead will bring, nobody thinks of losing, relegation or disaster. Here is your last chance to dream, your last day in denial, the last hiding place.

Tomorrow, everything changes. After the first game the favourites are decided, the winners and losers, coaches are made or broken, transfers successes or failures.

While everyone agrees you don't win the title in the first few weeks, you can certainly lose it. This is particularly true of Serie A, where leads are rarely opened up, even more rarely blown.

'It's a game we've got to win. It's also a game we've not got to lose.' - Graham Taylor, former England Manager

The belief of fans of all 20 teams, is there on Opening Day in a way it never is during the regular season. Fans of Lecce, Bologna, and Cesena will head to their games against Milan, Inter & Roma dreaming that they may spring the surprise story of the first day. There always is one, a fairytale that carries on that little longer for one team, that dream that starts to come true.

A look at Blackpool in their opening home game of the English Premier League season gives hope to the little guy, that supporting your team against the odds can pay off.

"I began by playing for the biggest club in the Lorraine region, went on to the biggest club in France and ended up with the biggest in the world." - Michel Platini, Nantes, St Etienne and Juventus

So we arrive at Juventus, starting the season her fans hope will be "the one". That finally Calciopoli and all its ills can be a part of history, rather than still feeling its effects, that Inter can finally be caught, that we can once again bear the Scudetto Shield on our shirts.

The pain of the season in Serie B will never truly leave us until we are champions again, the players who stayed will never feel vindicated until we once again can be the best. Returning Juventus to their rightful place atop Serie A was a common mantra among those who remained loyal to the shirt, the reason Nedved struggled to walk away.

"Juve will always be Juve. There are a number of teams that have a winning spirit built in, and Juventus are one of them." - Emilio Butragueno, Spain

Claudio Ranieri could never understand, he lacked the "Spirito Juve" that never dies, that can never be explained, but that Ciro Ferrara had in abundance. Now another outsider, Gigi Delneri is looking to instill that belief in his new look squad.

The fans hope Leo Bonucci and Milos Krasic have captured it too, that their early promise doesn't wilt and die in the ferocious spotlight that comes with the black-and-white shirt.

That Amauri can play a full season in the form he started his Juve career, that Melo can have a whole season like he started last year, that Aquilani can recapture his Roma form, that Chiellini continues his ascent to being one of the world's best, and that Buffon and Del Piero will be, well, Buffon and Del Piero.

We hope the club have struck the right balance, that a new manager, new formation and new players can bring a return to the old days, of victory and success, of Scudetti and la Coppa, a third star on the shirt, a Europa League Trophy in the cabinet.

So here we are, Opening Day, full of hope, dreams, expectations and willing our team to victory.

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Adam Digby is a freelance writer based in Turin. He is the founder of il Tifosi and you can also follow him on Twitter Adz77.

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