A 75th minute wonder goal from Alessandro Del Piero was enough to give Juventus a 1-0 victory over Zenit St Petersburg in a tight and at times drab Champions League Group H opener in Turin.
Team News
Juventus made their return to Europe’s premier club competition after two years in the Calciopoli-imposed wildnerness, and they were virtually at full strength, with only Jonathan Zebina and Cristiano Zanetti, who are by no-means first team players, out injured.
Claudio Ranieri made four changes from the team who beat Udinese 1-0 on Sunday, selecting Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet up-front, with Nicola Legrottaglie and Cristian Molinaro replacing Olof Mellberg and Paolo De Ceglie respectively in defence.
UEFA Cup and European Supercup champions Zenit were minus the services of midfielder Roman Shirokov, Turkish striker Fatih Tekke, as well as long-term absentee Nicolas Lombaerts.
There were no surprises in Dick Advocaat’s line-up as much admired offensive trio Andrei Arshavin, Danny and Pavel Pogrebnyak all started, with Anatoliy Tymoschuk anchoring the midfield.
First Half
Zenit made by far the better start and controlled the possession in the early stages. On 10 minutes they should have been ahead following a simply dreadful miss from Danny. Pogrebnyak got behind Zdenek Grygera down the right, and chipped a ball up to the far post for Alexander Anyukov, who nodded the ball down to Danny, but from just six yards out he somehow scuffed the ball wide when it was easier to score.
It took until the 14th minute for Juve to launch their first attack of note as Del Piero lost his man delightfully, and crossed for Trezeguet who glanced a header wide.
Del Piero was now finding his feet, and he left Tymoschuk for dead in the centre circle with some great quick feet before lifting the ball over for Trezeguet, who just couldn't take the ball down or else he would have been through.
Sissoko then had a shot from the edge of the area charged down, before Del Piero went on a mesmerising run inside the area, beating three men before being stopped by last man Sebastien Puygrenier.
On 25 minutes Juve were desperately close to taking the lead as Del Piero whipped in a free kick from the right, and Mauro Camoranesi nipped in to flick on a header, only to see it crash off the post and out of play.
Juve were improving but they then received a big blow just past the half-hour mark as Camoranesi was forced off injured, and had to be replaced by Hasan Salihamidzic.
Zenit tried to take immediate advantage of this as Danny volleyed over from 25 yards. There was an more dangerous moment soon after as Pogrebnyak got in behind Chiellini but his cross was headed away by Grygera.
Juve were disjointed again following the Camoranesi injury, and Zenit took control in midfield again, but in truth it had been a first half to forget about for the neutral, and indeed neither goalkeeper had been forced into a single save.
Second Half
Into the second half and Juve had the first attempt as Trezeguet rattled in a left-footed effort from 30 yards that sailed high over the bar. Chiellini then couldn't get his foot over the ball following a right-wing corner.
Yet it was Zenit who were looking the more dangerous, and Juve were forced into a spell of desperate defending before Denisov sliced the ball wide from the edge of the area.
Zenit were knocking on the door and on 55 minutes they missed their second glorious chance of the night as Arshavin put left back Radek Sirl clean through on goal, but Gianluigi Buffon made a superb stop to rescue his side.
Ranieri knew something had to be done and he made a second change, replacing the disappointing Molinaro with Paolo De Ceglie.
Juventus were disjointed, as they had been almost all night. There was also a distinct lack of pace or imagination in the team, and as the game entered the final quarter, if anyone looked like winning it certainly was Zenit.
However, on 73 minutes Juve could have gone ahead as Nedved fizzed in a free kick way out on the left, and Poulsen nodded the ball on, but Malafeev made a fine low save down to his left to push the ball away.
A few minutes later Juve finally broke the deadlock courtesy of an absolute wonder goal from Alessandro Del Piero. The legendary captain let fly with a dipping, swerving free kick from fully 30 yards that moved both left and right as it flew past Malafeev. It was a quite incredible strike!
Zenit tried to hit back, and with 10 minutes to go they were centimetres away from doing so as Denisov sidefooted the ball agonizingly wide of the far post from 20 yards out.
Substitute Alejandro Dominguez then tried to repeat Del Piero's trick but Buffon comfortably saved his long range shot.
Zenit pushed everyone forward for the equaliser, and Arshavin went on a winding run, beating two men before the colossal Chiellini saved the day with an expert tackle.
Amauri came on for Trezeguet in the closing minutes, and almost helped create a second goal for Del Piero but Juve managed to hold out as they earned a narrow win on their return to the Champions League.
Teams
Juventus: Buffon, Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro (De Ceglie 56), Camoranesi (Salihamidzic 31), Poulsen, Sissoko, Nedved, Del Piero, Trezeguet (Amauri 87)
Zenit: Malafeev, Anyukov, Krizanac, Puygrenier, Sirl, Denisov, Tymoschuk, Zyrianov (Dominguez 78), Arshavin, Danny, Pogrebnyak.
Goals
Del Piero 75 (J)
Goal.com
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