Juventus Back In The Champions League As Amauri Spares Blushes In Bratislava

Claudio Ranieri came into the game thinking about the big Serie A kick off at the weekend against Fiorentina. It showed in the Tinkerman’s formation as he left Alessandro Del Piero on the bench to start with Vincenzo Iaquinta and Amauri as the hit-men. Poulsen and Marchisio started in midfield as expected, with Nedved and Camoranesi alongside. Molinaro, Legroattglie, Melberg and Grygera began in front of Buffon.

First Half

The game got off to a slow start and, as expected it was Juve doing all the early pressing. Artmedia seemed organised and ready to give the Old Lady a good game. The home side sat back as the Italians held onto the ball well. However, Claudio Ranieri had to wait until 11 minutes until his side tested the waters as Pavel Nedved smashed one of his trademark strikes towards goal. Luckily for Artmedia the ball fizzed wide of the mark.

Two minutes later, what seemed the impossible happened. The Slovakian Champions scored. Fodrek latched onto a cross and beat Gianluigi Buffon with a sublime bicycle kick. Juve were stunned but Amauri kept his cool as he hit the post a minute later with a brilliant header. The goal served to kick the Bianconeri up into action as the onslaught began following Artmedia’s shock lead.

The Italians kept huffing and puffing and they were rewarded for their efforts mid way through the first half when Amauri finally headed home to restore parity on the night and give Juve a 5-1 aggregate lead. The Brazilian and co were cruising by this stage as the chances kept on coming. The former Palermo man should have doubled his side’s lead on 30 minutes but Kamenar came rushing out of his goal to smother the chance.

The rhythm of the game tended to speed up and slow down as the half wore on but it was Juve who were the better side. Ranieri was still nervous however as he shouted and screamed orders from the touchline.

Second Half

The game continued where it left off with both sides trying to grab another goal. Marchisio was keen to show his coach what he can do and he tested Kamenar from distance within the first minute of the restart. However the midfielder was soon shown a yellow card for some dangerous play. Salata also went into the book for the home side for his poorly timed challenge. The Bianconeri were elegant and their football was superb.

Amauri then came close once again. The Artmedia defence just couldn’t cope with his aerial powers as he latched onto Camoranesi’s pinpoint cross from the right wing, however, Kamenar pulled off a brilliant save to stop the away side taking the lead.

The Slovakian side created the odd half chance but they were never really able to trouble Juve as the Italian side took control of the game. Nedved tried his luck but, just like the first, it went narrowly wide.

It was not the greatest match you will ever see. Artmedia, perhaps, were just playing for pride, knowing that it would take a miracle to come out of the game with the 6-1 win they would have needed to go through on aggregate. The Old Lady also slowed down with attentions seemingly focussed elsewhere as the new Serie A season looms.

Sebastian Giovinco came onto to brush up on his knowledge of the European game as he replaced Nedved with Sissoko coming on for Camoranesi. The Bianconeri knew that there was no real need to go gung ho and they were happy just to sit back and run the clock down, knowing that an Artmedia come back was highly unlikely.

Juventus (4-4-2): Buffon, Grygera, Mellberg, Legrottaglie(Ariaudo), Molinaro,Camoranesi(Sissoko), Marchisio, Poulsen, Nedved(Giovinco), Iaquinta, Amauri.

Artmedia (4-5-1): Kramenar, Cislowski, Salata, Farkas, Burak, Anderson(Alenar), Obzera(Piroska), Kozac, Velicky, Fodrek, Prospech(Kleber).

Goals: Fodrek(Artmedia), Amauri(Juventus),

Cards: Camoranesi(Juventus), Marchisio(Juventus), Salata(Artmedia)