Alessandro Del Piero produced an absolutely magical individual performance, scoring two stunning goals as Juventus deservedly defeated Real Madrid 2-0 to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.
The biggest game of matchday four came from the Santiago Bernabeu as European superpowers Madrid and Juve once again locked horns in Group H. A fortnight ago the Italians won 2-1 in Turin, a result that took them to the top of the pool on seven points, one ahead of Madrid in second place. With BATE and Zenit struggling with only three points between them, a win tonight for either Bernd Schuster or Claudio Ranieri's men, would all but see them qualify for the knockout stages.
Madrid, who had only won two of their last six matches in all competitions, almost had a full strength squad to choose from, although they did lose Pepe and Arjen Robben late in the day with injury. Gabriel Henize partnered ex-Juventino Fabio Cannavaro in defence. Royston Drenthe started on the left wing to form a forward trident with Raul and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Juventus, who are on a four match winning streak, were still decimated by injuries, with half of their first team squad, including five regular starters, sidelined. David Trézéguet, Gianluigi Buffon, Zdenek Grygera, Cristiano Zanetti, Claudio Marchisio, Jorge Andrade, Christian Poulsen, Hasan Salihamidzic, Jonathan Zebina and Dario Knezevic were all missing, while the recovering Mauro Camoranesi was only fit to start from the bench. Portuguese flop Tiago got another start in midfield, while Alex Del Piero and Amauri hooked up in attack.
First Half
Madrid attacked right from the start, as expected, and had two long range efforts in the first 10 minutes. Guti forced Alex Manninger into a low save, while Mahamadou Diarra lashed the ball over the bar.
Juventus were playing a counter-attacking game, and it worked to perfect effect on 17 minutes as the Bianconeri took a surprise lead. Del Piero profited from a stray Guti pass, before moving forward and curling a beautiful left-footed shot from 25 yards into the bottom corner past Iker Casillas.
Del Piero was causing all kinds of problems when he got on the ball, and he then sparked another dangerous attack, but Marco Marchionni failed to pick out the unmarked Amauri, and the chance went begging.
Madrid tried to work their way back in the game, and on 23 minutes Sergio Ramos fired over when completely unmarked at the back post, although he was offside and so the goal wouldn't have counted anyway.
Schuster's team were looking extremely predictable, but on 35 minutes they showed a bit of spark as Van Nistelrooy found half a yard just inside the area before lashing the ball a couple of yards over.
Juventus seemed the more likely to score a second goal at this point, and perhaps should have done four minutes before the break as Amauri first saw his shot charged down by Cannavaro in a two-on-two situation, before he then over-hit a pass to Tiago, who was completely unmarked in the box.
However, Madrid then produced their best football of the half on 43 minutes as Drenthe was released in the left channel, but just as he wound up a shot inside the area, he was denied by a brilliant last-gasp tackle from Olof Mellberg. The Swede injured himself during the incident, but he managed to limp back on.
Madrid tried to take advantage of the injury confusion, but Diarra headed wide from Drenthe's left-wing cross, meaning that Juve went in a goal to the good at half time.
Second Half
Madrid came out of the bocks fast in the second period, and within 40 seconds they had another effort, as Drenthe lashed into the side-netting from an acute angle.
The Dutchman was switching wings, roasting Cristian Molinaro down the Juventus right, and his cross was centimetres too high for Raul in the middle.
Juventus were finding it difficult to get hold of the ball in the early stages of the second half, although Pavel Nedved charged forward on 54 minutes and tested Casillas from 30 yards.
This appeared to settle Juve down again, and Madrid started to become increasingly frustrated by their inability to break down the two lines of four in front of them. This prompted Schuster to mix things up, and on 64 minutes he introduced Gonzalo Higuain for Sneijder.
Two minutes later though, it was Ranieri, not Schuster, who was running onto the pitch and jumping for joy. Del Piero lined up a free kick 30 yards out, and curled a magnificent shot over the wall and into the corner past a stationary Casillas. It was yet another moment of genius by the Golden Boy, who has now scored four free kicks this season already, and two in the space of four days.
A shellshocked Madrid tried to react, and on 70 minutes Drenthe fizzed in a dangerous ball from the left for Higuain at the back post, but the Argentine was off-balance and made a poor connection.
The crowd now started to whistle at the Madrid players. Van Nistelrooy's shot struck the arm of Nicola Legrottaglie but the contact was involuntary, while Ramos hashed the ball horribly over. Down the other end, Marco Marchionni also fired off target.
On 78 minutes Juventus looked set to make it 3-0 as Marchionni charged through on goal, but the referee then penalised Juventus after Chiellini tangled with Drenthe as the two players chased the former Parma man.
Schuster now played his final cards, summoning Javier Saviola and Rafael van der Vaart in place of Van Nistelrooy and Heinze. Vincenzo Iaquinta entered the fray for Juve, with Amauri making way.
On 86 minutes Del Piero almost made his evening even more perfect as he latched onto Marchionni's past, before turning and shooting centimetres wide of the far post.
Madrid had been under-par all evening, and Manninger wasn't forced into a half-decent save until two minutes into injury time when he was at full stretch to grasp Diarra's header.
Such was Del Piero's magical display that, in scenes reminiscent to Ronaldinho and Barcelona a few years ago, he was granted a standing ovation by the whole Bernabeu when substituted for Paolo De Ceglie seconds before the final whistle.
Juventus have now qualified for the Champions League knockouts, and they are four points clear of Madrid at the top of Group H. The Spaniards now have to look nervously over their shoulders at Zenit, who are just two points behind them after beating BATE 2-0 tonight.
Team
Real Madrid: Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Heinze (Van der Vaart 81), Marcelo, Diarra, Guti, Sneijder (Higuain 64), Drenthe, Raul, Van Nistelrooy (Saviola 81)
Juventus: Manninger, Mellberg, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro, Marchionni, Tiago, Sissoko, Nedved, Del Piero (De Ceglie 93), Amauri (Iaquinta 83)
Goals
Del Piero 17 (J)
Del Piero 67 (J)
Anthony Sormani
Goal.com
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