 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Juventus win 3-0 to deflate dominant Celtic
Juventus secured a largely undeserved 3-0 win over Celtic in their Champions League last 16 first-leg tie on Tuesday after an otherwise backs-to-the-wall display to silence almost 60,000 passionate home fans at Parkhead.
Photos: Conte amazed to leave Celtic 'hell' with win
Alessandro Matri handed Juve a third-minute lead and they then weathered a Celtic storm in a red-hot atmosphere before Claudio Marchisio struck in the 77th and Mirko Vucinic made it three in the 83rd as the hosts tired.
Matri scored after taking advantage of a mistake by Celtic's Efe Ambrose, who went straight into the team after winning the African Nations Cup with Nigeria on Sunday, and Kelvin Wilson's valiant attempt to clear on the line came too late.
Buffon tried to play down the impact of Celtic's noisy fans
The Scottish champions, who beat Barcelona in the group stage, launched a series of assaults on goal for the rest of the first half but Kris Commons wasted several chances and a couple of penalty appeals against Stephan Lichtsteiner were ignored.
The pace eased in a less frantic second period and the Serie A leaders increased their advantage through Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic to be perfectly placed to reach the quarter-finals when they host the return leg in Turin on March 6.
Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had tried to play down the impact of Celtic's famously noisy fans ahead of the match but even the coolest of Italians would have struggled not to have been affected by the fervent Glasgow atmosphere.
Almost all the Celtic fans in the near 60,000 crowd stood with scarves aloft singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" before kickoff but they were soon cursing their luck after manager Neil Lennon's decision to throw Ambrose straight in backfired.
Celtic onslaught
The centre back got caught out by a ball played over the top of the defence and Matri easily outmuscled him before prodding it between goalkeeper Fraser Forster's legs.
Wilson ran back to hook it away and although the ball had already just crossed the line, Marchisio fired home the clearance just in case.
That was the only real chance twice European champions Juve had in the first half as they were then forced to withstand a Celtic onslaught in front of the screaming Parkhead fans.
Commons was just wide with an overhead kick in the pick of their chances while midfielder Victor Wanyama also twice went close as Celtic looked to storm back and win like they did 4-3 in their last home meeting with Juve in 2001.
Celtic ran out of steam
Andrea Pirlo clashed repeatedly with Scott Brown in the midfield but Lichtsteiner's continuous battle with Gary Hooper at corners as the Celtic striker tried to block Buffon could easily have warranted a spot kick or red card for either player.
Celtic, the 1967 European Cup winners who last reached the Champions League first knockout round in 2008, ran out of steam after the break but Ambrose spurned a chance to redeem himself by heading straight at Buffon when free.
Slightly out of the blue, Italy midfielder Marchisio then struck for Juve after being set up by Matri and Vucinic made it three as Celtic tired to leave the visitors in control.
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.