Thompson played only a half of the match at Telstra Dome, which the Victory lost 4-1, and appeared to be struggling late in the match after a tackle from a Juventus defender. But both Thompson, who missed three matches of the Asian Champions League campaign with the injury, and coach Ernie Merrick were confident it was just a minor setback.

"It's still early days. I actually felt good out there. I crossed the ball and I felt a little bit awkward but the knee's fine, it's just good to have 45 minutes out there," Thompson said.

Merrick said that the Victory medical staff didn't believe Thompson, who wanted to impress national coach Pim Verbeek with his performance in the match, had suffered any further damage to the medial ligament which saw him out for two months.

"It's just a jarred knee, we're just assessing it. There's going to be a certain amount of pain but it should be fine," he said.

Merrick also revealed that Carlos Hernandez, who scored a cracking goal early in the second half, had been carrying a quad injury. Hernandez leaves for Costa Rica on Saturday to hook up with the national team who will play a World Cup qualifier in late June.

Meanwhile, Merrick said he felt the crowd of over 43,000 had got the spectacle they wanted and that the class of the Italian giant told late in the game as the Victory were overwhelmed.

"The crowd came to see goals. They saw five goals but not enough from our side. The first half, we saw a fantastic team close us down, keep the ball, knock the ball around and score early from a header and then we came out in the second half and we played good football," he said.

"Carlos scored a terrific goal. We had a couple of good chances and then a penalty and then its 2-1 down. I thought we did well until the last four minutes when we conceded two goals. The quality of the Juventus players and finishing was first class."

Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri said it was a good workout for his team.

"It was a good match. Both teams created a lot of chances. We scored goals, they didn't score as many goals. I think the crowd enjoyed it thoroughly. I think the Victory move the ball very well. But without Thompson at 100 per cent, it's different for them," he said.