Juventus Quick Fire 2nd Half Goals Send Tottenham Out Of UCL
Juventus scored two quickfire second-half goals to earn a 2-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium, sending them through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 4-3 aggregate victory.
The Lilywhites were on course for the last eight when taking a deserved lead on the night through
Son Heung-min , leaving the visitors still in need of a couple of goals with 26 minutes left to play.
Find the goals they did, though, with Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala living up to their reputations by turning the tie on its head to keep the 2015 and 2017 finalists on course for European glory.
Picking up from where they left off in Turin a few weeks back, when earning a 2-2 draw in the first leg, Spurs looked comfortable on the ball and enjoyed the better of the first-half chances.
Son offered a sign of what was to come a little later with just a few minutes on the clock, getting past his man and belting the ball on target for
Gianluigi Buffon to parry it away.
A big chance then came and went for Harry Kane , who did the hard work by knocking Dele Alli 's through-ball past Buffon, but failing to slide it into the small empty gap at the near post.
Juve, now unbeaten in eight matches against English opposition, rarely got the ball forward in the first half, though once they did they should have been rewarded with a penalty.
Jan Vertonghen went to ground when attempting to take the ball from Douglas Costa, only succeeding in wiping out his opponent, yet the Polish officials saw it a different way and did not point to the spot.
Spurs used that scare to make their dominance at the other end of the field count, with star man Son testing Buffon for a second time and having another shot blocked in front of goal by Giorgio Chiellini.
Then, after Alli had a volley from a half-cleared cross saved down the middle, two more chances would fall the way of Son - given the nod over
Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela tonight.
The South Korean dragged the first one wide from a decent position, but he soon made amends by sending a miscued shot spinning past Chiellini and Buffon after some good work from
Kieran Trippier to square it into his path.
That was just the third goal Juve have conceded in their last 20 matches, each of them coming against Spurs, and they could only muster a tame response in the remainder of the opening 45 minutes.
Miralem Pjanic blasted wide from a standing position 18 yards out and Alex Sandro nodded over the bar when picked out from a deep cross at the back post.
Juventus were looking rattled in the opening stages of the second half as Costa, Benatia and Chiellini took it in turns to take out Alli - the latter two earning cautions for their troubles.
A number of niggling fouls from both sides followed, particularly in the case of Juve as they struggled to grab any sort of foothold in the contest as the hour mark arrived.
That all completely changed in the final half an hour, however, as a tactical switch - bringing on
Kwadwo Asamoah and Stephan Lichtsteiner - was followed by two goals in the next seven minutes.
Dybala, who barely had a touch all evening up until this point, squandered a big chance from close to the penalty spot, but from the next attack Higuain stuck out a boot to direct Sami Khedira 's composed headed pass beyond Hugo Lloris .
Momentum now on their side, Higuain turned provider by playing Dybala through on goal, and the young forward remained calm to pick his spot past Lloris - his first European goal of the campaign, proving to be the decisive strike across the two legs.
In response Mauricio Pochettino turned to Lamela in place of holding midfielder Eric Dier, as Spurs looked to dent a run that has now seen Juve win 11 away matches in a row.
The Lilywhites thought that they had salvaged extra time late on when an offside Kane leapt highest to send a header against the upright, with the ball then being cleared off the line by Andrea Barzagli.
Spurs could not muster another killer chance in the remainder, though, coming up against Juve's brick wall to see their unbeaten Wembley run - stretching back to October - and their European hopes come to a disappointing end.
The Lilywhites were on course for the last eight when taking a deserved lead on the night through
Son Heung-min , leaving the visitors still in need of a couple of goals with 26 minutes left to play.
Find the goals they did, though, with Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala living up to their reputations by turning the tie on its head to keep the 2015 and 2017 finalists on course for European glory.
Picking up from where they left off in Turin a few weeks back, when earning a 2-2 draw in the first leg, Spurs looked comfortable on the ball and enjoyed the better of the first-half chances.
Son offered a sign of what was to come a little later with just a few minutes on the clock, getting past his man and belting the ball on target for
Gianluigi Buffon to parry it away.
A big chance then came and went for Harry Kane , who did the hard work by knocking Dele Alli 's through-ball past Buffon, but failing to slide it into the small empty gap at the near post.
Juve, now unbeaten in eight matches against English opposition, rarely got the ball forward in the first half, though once they did they should have been rewarded with a penalty.
Jan Vertonghen went to ground when attempting to take the ball from Douglas Costa, only succeeding in wiping out his opponent, yet the Polish officials saw it a different way and did not point to the spot.
Spurs used that scare to make their dominance at the other end of the field count, with star man Son testing Buffon for a second time and having another shot blocked in front of goal by Giorgio Chiellini.
Then, after Alli had a volley from a half-cleared cross saved down the middle, two more chances would fall the way of Son - given the nod over
Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela tonight.
The South Korean dragged the first one wide from a decent position, but he soon made amends by sending a miscued shot spinning past Chiellini and Buffon after some good work from
Kieran Trippier to square it into his path.
That was just the third goal Juve have conceded in their last 20 matches, each of them coming against Spurs, and they could only muster a tame response in the remainder of the opening 45 minutes.
Miralem Pjanic blasted wide from a standing position 18 yards out and Alex Sandro nodded over the bar when picked out from a deep cross at the back post.
Juventus were looking rattled in the opening stages of the second half as Costa, Benatia and Chiellini took it in turns to take out Alli - the latter two earning cautions for their troubles.
A number of niggling fouls from both sides followed, particularly in the case of Juve as they struggled to grab any sort of foothold in the contest as the hour mark arrived.
That all completely changed in the final half an hour, however, as a tactical switch - bringing on
Kwadwo Asamoah and Stephan Lichtsteiner - was followed by two goals in the next seven minutes.
Dybala, who barely had a touch all evening up until this point, squandered a big chance from close to the penalty spot, but from the next attack Higuain stuck out a boot to direct Sami Khedira 's composed headed pass beyond Hugo Lloris .
Momentum now on their side, Higuain turned provider by playing Dybala through on goal, and the young forward remained calm to pick his spot past Lloris - his first European goal of the campaign, proving to be the decisive strike across the two legs.
In response Mauricio Pochettino turned to Lamela in place of holding midfielder Eric Dier, as Spurs looked to dent a run that has now seen Juve win 11 away matches in a row.
The Lilywhites thought that they had salvaged extra time late on when an offside Kane leapt highest to send a header against the upright, with the ball then being cleared off the line by Andrea Barzagli.
Spurs could not muster another killer chance in the remainder, though, coming up against Juve's brick wall to see their unbeaten Wembley run - stretching back to October - and their European hopes come to a disappointing end.
Post a Comment