Alessandro Del Piero scored twice Wednesday to give Juventus a 2-0 win over Real Madrid to advance to the knockout stage of the Champions League.
Del Piero, who also scored in the Juventus' 2-1 win over Madrid at Turin two weeks ago, scored in the 17th minute by curling a left-footed shot beyond goalkeeper Iker Casillas at Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
The Italy striker capped Juventus' first success in the Spanish capital in 46 years by scoring from a free kick in the 67th for his 41st Champions League goal.
New Argentina coach Diego Maradona came to watch Madrid's Argentine players, but it was Del Piero who stole the show.
"I'm pleased to have scored in front of Maradona. I hope Diego comes to watch us play more often," said Del Piero, who exited in the 90th to a standing ovation from 80,000 fans.
"I live off these types of emotions. I'm pleased the fans gave me that applause when I came off. This is a crazy stadium and it was a very important game for us. It's a good moment for me."
Juventus tops Group H with 10 points, four ahead of Madrid. Zenit St. Petersburg's 2-0 victory over BATE Borisov gave it four points and kept the Russian club in the hunt for the other spot into the last 16. Borisov has two points.
"Evidently, this is a stadium that brings me luck," Juventus coach Claudio Raniero said. "I had already won here with Atletico Madrid and Valencia when I coached in Spain. We wanted to advance and we did. Now we'll do our best to finish first in the group."
Last season, Madrid lost 2-1 at home to AS Roma to be eliminated from the knockout stages. Madrid had won five straight against Italian opponents before that.
Madrid had 17 shots but Juventus' back four overpowered the hosts inside the area so that only three were on goal.
"Fortune wasn't at our side on several occasions, but this is a Champions League game so you have to move on. There are still more games to play," Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said. "What we did, what we have to do, was much better than what I expected against Juve."
Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez lost the ball as Marco Marchionni set up Del Piero, who ran across the top of the area before scoring first with a low shot inside the near post.
Madrid defender Sergio Ramos volleyed over the crossbar in the 24th and Ruud van Nistelrooy fired high in the 37th as Madrid enjoyed the better momentum to the close the first half.
An injury-depleted Juventus didn't have many first-half chances. Amauri, who scored the winner at Turin, stole the ball from Heinze in the 41st only to have his shot blocked.
Juventus defender Olof Mellberg blocked Drenthe's shot in the 43rd after Guti had set the Dutchman clear down the left flank. Mahamadou Diarra then headed wide to close out the half with Madrid pressing for the equalizer.
"If we created more chances, it's because we were tactically phenomenal. We just didn't find the net," Schuster said.
The German manager was up out of his seat in the 52nd when Raul Gonzalez was muscled down in the area. But Madrid didn't get the call and felt hard done by several more similar instances.
Maradona, appointed coach on Monday, has traveled to assess the form of the European-based players he hopes will help the country qualify for the 2010 World Cup. He got a chance to see Gonzalo Higuain from the 65th after he replaced Sneijder. The Argentina striker shot over in the 70th with Juventus happy to sit back and defend. Madrid threatened with crosses from either flank, but the Italians cleared most efforts.
Del Piero took advantage of Madrid's poor communication to curl the ball around the defensive wall and leave Casillas flat-footed as the ball sailed into the empty side of goal.
"I'm unbelievably happy," said the 33-year-old Del Piero, who nearly had a hat trick after swiveling to flash a shot just wide of the post in the 87th. "We won, we played a great game and I scored goals. What could be better?"
0 Comments:
Post a Comment