Chelsea are on the brink of an early
UEFA Champions League exit after
losing 3-0 at Juventus on Tuesday
evening.
Fabio Quagliarella diverted Andrea
Pirlo's weak shot past the wrong-
footed Petr Cech to give the home side
the lead just before the interval.
Arturo Vidal added to the lead just
after the hour mark when his side-
footed effort from Kwadwo Asamoah's
cut-back was deflected past Cech off
the heel of Ramires.
And substitute Sebastian Giovinco put
the gloss on the display as he slotted
the ball past the advancing Chelsea
goalkeeper in injury time.
Chelsea must now beat Nordsjaelland
in their final Group E game - and hope
Shakhtar Donetsk beat Juve in Ukraine -
to have any chance of retaining their
European crown.
And Roberto Di Matteo may regret
fielding a new-look line-up with
Fernando Torres axed in favour of
Eden Hazard up front and Cesar
Azpilicueta playing on the right of
midfield.
Juventus had dominated the game
before the break with wing-backs
Stephan Lichtsteiner and Asamoah
pushing forward at every opportunity.
Lichtsteiner should have opened the
scoring inside five minutes but Cech
managed to push his close-range
effort onto the post. At the other end,
Hazard nearly found the breakthrough
only for Gianluigi Buffon to deflect his
shot just wide.
But the home side were producing the
classier football and it was no surprise
when they took the lead through
Quagliarella. In fact, they nearly
doubled their advantage soon after.
Minutes after the opener, Ashley Cole
had to clear off the line to avoid the
Blues going two behind.
But Di Matteo's side remained an
intermittent goal threat and broke
within seconds only for Juan Mata to
see Buffon block his volleyed effort at
point-blank range.
The Chelsea boss did introduce Torres
with 20 minutes remaining but the
visitors were two down by that point
following Vidal's effort, and Giovinco's
late finish puts the Blues on the verge
of a Champions League exit.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Juventus 3-0 Chelsea
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