made thirty–one appearances in all competitions. At the start of the 2005–06 season, Zebina made his first appearance of the season in the Supercoppa Italiana against Inter Milan, starting a match and played 111 minutes, as Juventus lost 1–0. In a follow–up match against Chievo in the opening game of the season, however, he suffered an injury in the 7th minute, as the club won 1–0. But Zebina made a quick recovery and returned to the starting line–up against Ascoli on 18 September 2005, only to be substituted in the 3rd minute, due to a hamstring injury, as Juventus won 2–1. Following this, he was sidelined for the rest of the year and had four separate injuries by then. As Zebina was returning from injury, the 2005–06 season was not his finest as a professional due to an argument with the Juventus management over his request for a pay rise. This led to rumours linking him with Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. However, his move to England collapsed after Manager Capello persuaded him to stay. It wasn't until on 22 January 2006 when he made his return from injury against Empoli, coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute, in a 2–1 win. This was follow–up by making his first start since September against his former club, Roma in the first leg of the Coppa Italia first leg, losing 3–2. However, in the return leg of the Coppa Italia quarter–finals against Roma, Zebina suffered an injury and was substituted in the 44th minute, as the club won 1–0, only to be eliminated from the tournament through away goal. After the match, he was sidelined for a month. But Zebina made his return to the first team against Milan on 12 March 2006 and started the whole game, as Juventus drew 0–0. Despite sidelined on three more occasions, including a red card in Juventus' Champions League quarter-final loss to Arsenal, along with Mauro Camoranesi, he was primarily used as a backup player, occasionally playing in the right-back position. Once again, his contributions to the club saw Juventus claimed the Scudetto to compensate for the European disappointment, but were stripped of their 2005 and 2006 titles title after a match-fixing scandal that saw the club relegated to Serie B. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Zebina went on to make fifteen appearances in all competitions. Despite coming under fire several times for his