Despite his performances dipping as the result of a persistent groin injury and a reported training ground bust-up with teammate Zlatan Ibrahimović, Vieira helped Juventus retain the Scudetto, which was later stripped.

Despite picking up the same number of points as second placed Juventus, Basel crashed out on goal difference.

Despite this, Palermo reached two Italian Cup finals, both of which they narrowly lost: in 1974 to Bologna on penalty shoot-outs, and in 1979 to Juventus after extra time.

Despite winning the 2004 – 05 Serie A and 2005 – 06 Serie A titles, Juventus were caught in the 2006 Italian football scandal that rocked Italian football, and along with Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina, Juventus were accused of match fixing.

Despite being approached to manage Brazil, Juventus and Arsenal, he remained as assistant manager at Old Trafford until 1971.

Despite his agent Sergio Fortunato linking the player to clubs such as Lyon, Valencia, and Liverpool over the summer of 2006, following Juventus's relegation, Camoranesi made an announcement himself in September, pledging loyalty to Juventus " In January, I will not ask to be sold ; I'm happy to stay here.

Despite suffering several injuries during the 2007 – 08 season, he was a very important and influential player in Juventus ' return season.

Despite being a regular during his time at Roma and Juventus, he has earned only one cap for France ; on 9 February 2005 in a 1 – 1 draw against Sweden.

Despite scoring a winning goal in a Turin derby match against Juventus, his time at the Italian club was short and almost ended in tragedy.

Despite not having won a state title since 1959, at the end of the century South Hobart SC were still the most successful team in Tasmania with 11 titles, although they were being rapidly caught by Hobart Zebras ( Juventus ), who had won their ninth title in 1993.

Despite these troubles Andronikos III secured the extension of Byzantine control over Thessaly in 1333 and Epirus in 1337, by taking advantage of succession crises in these principalities.

Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987.

Despite resolving their salary cap problems, the team's rebuilding was clearly taking longer than expected.

Despite Henry taking a second wife, Queen Adeliza, it became increasingly unlikely that Henry would have another legitimate son and instead he looked to Matilda as his intended heir.

Despite the warning, the inmates succeed in taking over the prison, capturing many of the guards, though they are unable to force their way out.

Despite rumours circulating on social network sites, the incident was reportedly not linked to the riots taking place.

Despite the Africans ' absence, there was another new record number of entries for the qualifying tournament, with 70 nations taking part.

Despite much of the originally drafted talent departing by 2004, WWE has continued to separate the shows, taking on younger talent, and holds a Draft Lottery every year.

Despite his deportation, in the 1920 legislative elections, Companys was elected deputy of Sabadell, taking the place of Layret, who was to have taken that seat prior to his assassination.

Despite his absence, the Pistons rallied from 15 down in the third quarter to win Game 4 90 – 89, on a field goal by Tayshaun Prince with just 8. 9 seconds to play, taking a 3 – 1 series lead.

Despite this, her career evolved slowly, taking second billing for a number of years but with help in her stage presentation from the American dancer, Loie Fuller, she eventually became a singing star.

Despite taking a year off to serve in World War I, he received his doctorate in 1917.

Despite Henry taking a second wife, Queen Adeliza, it became increasingly unlikely that Henry would have another legitimate son and instead he looked to Matilda as his intended heir.

Despite its former prosperity, in the 1950s and 1960s Newburyport's center fell into disrepair because of several factors, most notably strip malls taking away from local business and increased use of the automobile.

Despite its relatively small population, Greifswald retains a supra-regional relevance linked to its intellectual role as a university town and to the taking of the central functions of the former Prussian Province of Pomerania after World War II, such as the seat of the bishop of the Pomeranian Lutheran Church, the state archives ( Landesarchiv ) and the Pomeranian Museum ( Pommersches Landesmuseum ).

Despite his suspicions, he begins to relax, changing his clothes and taking a shower, after which he is presented with a meal served on a silver platter.

Despite this he was able to view France's foreign affairs with a more abstract nature, taking in the wider European context.

It stated, in addition, that " Despite their tolerance toward minority religious groups traditional to the country — including Catholics, Armenian Apostolic Christians, Jews, and Muslims — citizens remain very apprehensive about Protestants and other nontraditional religions, which they see as taking advantage of the populace's economic hardship by gaining membership through handing out economic assistance to converts.

Despite taking the lead twice in the match, Blackpool lost out 4 – 2 to Matt Busby's Manchester United in the final, with Matthews assisting Mortenson for Blackpool's second.

Despite being criticized for taking a " partionist " or unionist stance in his speech, Cosgrave was leading Fine Gael back into power a year later.

Despite claims to the contrary, the opening scenes of the first episode, taking place on a train, bear a striking resemblance to those of the first episode of the series Peyton Place ; the made for television film, Della ( aka Royal Bay starring Joan Crawford ) appears to be the inspiration for the story involving Elizabeth.

Despite taking some ideas from others, the books are not based on any other school of teaching.

Despite taking heavy losses the German infantry were not repulsed until around 22: 30.

Despite this, the group had five members when taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, with German rapper O-Jay ( Olaf Jeglitza ) as the fifth member.

Despite this deep personal loss, Barrichello recovered his confidence and raced strongly, having good races and taking pole position at the, and leading some laps at Estoril.

Despite this, Lewis argued, those who accept evolutionary naturalism still act as if objective moral truths exist, lead Lewis to reject it as impractical.

Despite sending Kerry Wood to the mound and holding a lead twice, the Cubs ultimately dropped Game 7, and failed to reach the World Series.

Despite the popularization of these five events, there is no fine line separating them from other extinction events ; indeed, using different methods of calculating an extinction's impact can lead to other events featuring in the top five.

Despite predictions from the music press that the band would fold without Wood, who had been the driving force behind the creation of ELO, Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bev Bevan remaining on drums, joined by Gibson, Richard Tandy ( now on the Moog synthesiser ), Mike de Albuquerque on bass and vocals and Mike Edwards and Colin Walker on cellos.

Despite periodic crises of confidence and lingering Iraqi resentment over Jordan's close ties with Saddam Hussein, the two countries have managed to forge deep ties, in fact, Jordan has taken the lead among Arab states to do so.

Despite up to eight rivals on non factory HRC Honda motorcycles Doohan's margin of superiority over them was such that in many races Doohan would build a comfortable lead and then ride well within his limits to cruise to victory.

Despite the " one party " convention, Prime Ministers may still be called upon to lead either minority or coalition governments.

Despite the lopsided loss in the Super Bowl, Beathard, who traded for or drafted the bulk of the Chargers roster, and who hired coach Ross, was named the NFL's smartest man by Sports Illustrated, and became the only general manager to lead three different teams to the Super Bowl ( Chargers, Dolphins, Redskins ).

Despite these obstacles, the film's war footage was stunning and James Coburn, in the lead role of Rolf Steiner, gave one of the finest performances of his career.

Despite these insecurities, she became a renowned public presence, eventually helping to lead the women's movement.

Despite having Jake Peavy start the game and bringing in Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the 13th inning to try to hold an 8 – 6 lead, the Padres ' season ended when the Rockies rallied to win 9 – 8.

Despite their great starting field position, Dallas was unable to score a touchdown and thus had to settle for kicker Mike Clark's 14-yard field goal to give them a 3 – 0 lead.

Despite outgaining the Titans in total offensive yards in the first half, 294 – 89, the Rams held merely a 9 – 0 halftime lead on three field goals.

Despite his deteriorating health, the lead singer continued to contribute.

Despite this careful planning and intensive training ( by Civil War standards ), the day before the attack, Meade, who lacked confidence in the operation, ordered Burnside not to use the black troops in the lead assault, claiming that if the attack failed black soldiers would be killed needlessly, creating political repercussions in the North.

Despite this, and despite the lead protagonist being unnamed, all six books have been unofficially called the Harry Palmer novels, based on the protagonist's name given in the subsequent film adaptations of The IPCRESS File and its sequels.

Despite sustainining enormous casualties, the Serbian army managed to recover, regrouped and returned to the Macedonian front to lead a final breakthrough through enemy lines on 15 September 1918, liberating Serbia and defeating the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria.

Despite not having the looks for a romantic lead, he impressed audiences with his talent and played classical roles in two plays by Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard and The Three Sisters.

Despite the appeal of Bracks, Kennett entered the 1999 election campaign with a seemingly unassailable lead, and most commentators and opinion polls agreed that he would win a third term.

Despite being hampered by injuries prior to and during 2005 – 06, the Flyers lived up to those expectations in the first half of the season, reaching the top of the league standings in January while simultaneously holding a ten-point lead in the Atlantic Division.

Despite all the progress, there was speculation that Jim O ' Brien was not the coach to lead this team back to the playoffs.

Despite their success against Calgary, round 2 would prove to be a disaster for the Sharks, when they lost in a four game sweep to Detroit ( in a rematch of the previous year ) without even holding a single lead in all 4 games.

Despite the general agreement among film critics regarding these political connotations of the film, lead actor Kevin McCarthy said in an interview included on the 1998 DVD release that he felt no political allegory was intended.

Despite the show's recognition of Kelley as one of its stars he was frustrated by the greater attention that Shatner received as its lead actor, and Nimoy received because of " Spockamania " among fans.