Messi's Barcelona Silence Ronaldo-Less Juventus
29 October, 2020
UEFA Champions League
Result: Juventus 0-2 FC Barcelona
Date: 28 October 2020
Venue: Allianz Stadium
FC Barcelona maintained their 100 percent record in the UEFA Champions League after beating ten-man Juventus 2-0 in Group G on Wednesday evening.
Bianconeri, who were still without Cristiano Ronaldo, made three changes from the medial side that happened by Hellas Verona, as Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski and Federico Chiesa were handed starts.
Meanwhile, Barca were without the suspended Gerald Pique and injured Philippe Coutinho, as Ronald Koeman made four changes from the defeat to Real Madrid, with Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Sergi Roberto and Miralem Pjanic time for the fore.
The Catalan giants enjoyed a bright start as Griezmann was denied by the post in the next minute but Dembele eventually gave opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a deflected strike from the edge of the box that wrong-footed goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Juventus thought they had equalised one minute later after Alvaro Morata scored from his own rebound after his initial shot was saved by shot-stopper Neto however the goal was disallowed for a handball by the Spaniard.
Morata found the back of the web again for Andrea Pirlo's charges on the half-hour mark with a sweeping strike from Juan Cuadrado's cross but the goal was disallowed again for offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) monitor.
Morata continued to provide Blaugrana defence trouble from the break, as he scored again just before the hour-mark with a good finish at the trunk post from another cross by Cuadrado however the goal was disallowed for a third time for a marginal offside by the VAR.
With the match was checking, Griezmann came the closest to doubling the lead for Ronald Koeman's troops within the last quarter of an hour after a through ball by Lionel Messi but he guided his shot just wide.
Juventus dented their chances of a comeback in the last five minutes because they were reduced to ten men after Merih Demiral found another yellow card for a lunging tackle on Pjanic.
Barca were awarded a penalty within the last minute after Bernardeschi pushed down Anssumane Fati in the box and Messi gave Szczesny no chance with a strike into the top corner and sealed a 2-0 victory for the Koeman's men.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za