By Greg Robertson
Hello and welcome to Juventus Stadium where we haveItaly’s Juventus hosting Scotland’s Celtic in the second leg of the Champions League 2013 last-16 action.
It was a 3-0 hiding by Juventus in the first leg, but Celtic dominated much of the play. The class this is in this Italian side taking the chances they had. Can we see an absolute boil over and Celtic fire three, or four, away? Very unlikely but stranmger things have happened in football.
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LIVE COMMENTARY...Juventus 2 – 0 Celtic (agg 5-0)
FULLTIME and it's 2-0 for the Juve win. ALL VIDEO UP.
90+2 MINS: Juve have just tucked in and letting Celtic attack now, comfortable in the 5-0 goal lead, perhaps? You bet. They have been pretty clinical.
90 MINS:Celtic still trying, bless 'em. Added time of THREE MINUTES.
87 MINS: Celtic's manager Neil Lennon was annoyed after that Samaras shot - he desperately wants a goal to give something back to the Celtic fans.
83 MINS: Celtic's Greek international Samaras with plenty of room on the edge and let's fly with a well struck shot that's still rising. Should have got that on target at least. VIDEO UP SOON.
79 MINS:The game is going through a dull patch, both teams having their chances but play breaking down too easily.
75 MINS: Another telling looping long ball has Celtic in trouble with Giaccherini taking a half-decent touch as he runs on to it put it's just a fraction in front of him and allows Forster the time to charge and and claim it.
70 MINS: The question on everyone's lips is, 'Can Celtic score 6?'... okay, so maybe there isn't a person in the world who is asking this.
67 MINS:GOAL Juventus and it's Quagliarella with the simplest of tap ins. VIDEO UP SOON. The Celtic defence was unstitched by a magic ball from Pirlo, Vidal taking it on the chest then squaring it to Quagliarella to score the easiest of goals he'll ver get. That's 2-0 and 5-0 on aggregate./p>
65 MINS: Izaguirre leaves a foot trailing and collects Padoin. The yellow card is brandished.
63 MINS: Here's a dangerous moment for Celtic as Juve wins a free kick near the touch line five metres north of the edge of the area. They send tall timber forward and the delivery disapoints all as it is fired straight over the crossbar.
59 MINS: Commons spreads it right to the new man on the pitch Forrest and he looks in his element haring off down the park, a deep cross in to Samaras on the back post is headed square but it's to no one. Again, final ball. Changes for Juve as Celtic have a corner, Peluso off and Asamoah on... it's a ripper and should have been as a goal giving Ambrose all the time he needed to head it home, instead he heads straight down into the ground.
54 MINS: Celtic with a free kick, go square and they prove for any weaknesses in defence... turnover. Matri trying to combine again with Quigliarrella... breaks down but they are looking sharp up front as a target pair.
50 MINS: It's all Juve in the second spell with Forster coming up with a great save as Podra connects with Marti and Quagliarella hits it first time, Forster, down fast to his right. VIDEO UP SOON. More trouble for Celtic as Matthews' hammy has gone. He's in massive pain and will have to be replaced. Looks like James Forrest will replace him - an attacking right midfielder, on for a back... yep the change is being made.
47 MINS: Padoin with a great run down the right for Juve, knocks it inside then gets it back and hits the cross just short of the by-line, Matthews heading away to clear.
46 MINS: We're back underway...
Players now heading back onto the field.
HALFTIME: Juventus 1 - 0 Celtic
44 MINS: Vidal takes the ball and drives forward with intent on the counter attack, makes his own room and rips one with his right, low and hard. Forster down to it quickly to save and hold. VIDEO UP SOON. ONE MINUTE ADDED. Last chance of the half with a Celtic corner and everyone misses it.
43 MINS: Kayal with a header on goal fro Celtic but it's directed right at Buffon and with no power. Another great Celtic build up though with the key to the movement being Commons opening his body up and spreading it left to allow the cross to be made.
40 MINS: Matri trying to increase the voltage and dribble through the heart of the Celtic defence but gets it tied up under his feet and scoops it into legs.
39 MINS: Commons looking the most likely for Celtic, he gets the ball on the edge and looks to shoot but checks back, but Pogba doesn't buy it and slides in to blast it into the crown. He's been the shield at the back for Juve.
34 MINS: Crowd at Juventus Stadium in full voice and why not? Ohhh Celtic's Samaras with a remarkable young and he beats defenders all ends up and all the shot/cross needed was a touch on the back post and that would have been in the back of the net. VIDEO UP SOON. It was Hooper sliding in on the back post.
27 MINS: Wow Commons with the shot and Buffon with a fantastic save. That's it Celtic keep the attack up. It;s a shame that goal as Celtic were playing well and having the better of it - so similar to the first leg. But that shows the class of this Juventus side, can absorb then strike when given a sniff. VIDEO UP SOON. Actually that save was even better than first though as Buffon had to change direction after the Commons shot was deflected. Wicked.
24 MINS: If there was any doubt remaining it's just been removed! GOAL FOR JUVENTUS. Barzagli with a magical run forward, plays in someone (will find out who) and 'he' shoots, it's a good save from Forster but he can't hold it and it falls to the feet of Matri who is first to it and taps it home. It was Quagliarella with the shot that was saved. VIDEO UP SOON.
22 MINS: First real shot comes from Celtic with Commons laying it off to Ledley and he unleashes from 28 yards - ot far away - and for the first time today we see Buffon having to move sharply. Actually, it was just a whisker away. VIDEO UP SOON.
20 MINS: So from the back and through midfield Celtic are showing some class, it's just when they reach the Juve backline they are struggling... it's the final ball that is lacking but they might work into that.
18 MINS: You have to give props to Celtic, they're not just sitting back in damage control. They're here to play and to win. Ohhh some great work down the right as a chance slips away but not the momentum - it was Commons with some wicked interplay and then takes it on the chest, just doesn't get enough time to get a shot away.
15 MINS: No shots on goal as yet... no real chances at all and that dopesn't bode well for Celtic. Err Padoin with a shot from... errr, distance... let's put it this way, Celtic have traveled less distance from Glasgow to get here. Dribble past Forster and he let's it go out for a goal kick.
14 MINS: Juve's Frencham Pogba with a sharp turn - geez he's looking good. But the next pass let him down as it's fired straight at feet, but wrong feet.
10 MINS: Izaguirre with a lovely turn down the left side from a throw and he scoots away, delivery ends up falling to Commons but the shot is blocked. He took too much time on that. Plenty of pressure coming from Celtic now... similar to the first leg.
7 MINS: Very little in the way if action for the first seven minutes as they try and feel each other out. Hooper and Samaras are up front for Celtic... Commons with a role to throw behind the strikers and venture to the right as well.
5 MINS: Celtic in a black strip tonight with Juven tusin a black and white stripe.../p>
3 MINS: Marrone playing as a central defender tonight for Juve... Celtci moves it forward for their first venture into the Juventus half but comes to nothing. You can imagine that the visiting side will be pushing high for plenty of this match.,/p>
1 MINS: Juventus with a long free kick into the box but the Welsh right back for Celtic Adam Matthews deals with it easily to clear.
We're underway... it's pretty wet out there, Celtic desperate for an early goal.
Kick off is not far away, in the meantime watch first leg action from Glasgow as Juventus wins 3-0.
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Teams
Celtic: Forster; Matthews, Wilson, Wanyama, Izaguirre; Samaras, Kayal, Ledley, Mulgrew; Commons, Hooper
Juve: Buffon, Barzagli, Marrone, Bonucci, Padoin, Vidal, Pirlo, Pogba, Peluso, Matri, Quagliarella.
Pregame banter
Holding a 3-0 lead from the away leg, it seems only a total collapse by Juventus against Celtic can prevent the Italian team from booking a place in the Champions League quarterfinals.
Juventus is expected to finish off the job at home in the return leg of its last-16 matchup today, and the players have been urging against complacency.
"There's still a lot to do, we mustn't fool ourselves that qualification is already in our pockets," defender Giorgio Chiellini said. "I think the 3-0 win in the away leg was a great performance from the squad, but there's still a whole game to play.
"So I am convinced that on Wednesday we will give our all in this game and then only think about where Juventus can get to much later on."
Chiellini could miss the game after sitting out training with a recurrence of an ankle injury he picked up last month. He could be replaced by Federico Peluso who made his Champions League debut in the first leg.
Peluso, who joined on loan from Atalanta in January, arrived at a difficult time for Juventus, which saw it win just one of four matches in Serie A and crash out of the Italian Cup.
However, it has now lost just one of its past five league matches and has a lead of six points after drawing at second-place Napoli.
"The Champions League game gave us self-confidence," Peluso said. "But I don't think the other games have taken the wind out of our sails. We've always had the right mentality. A difficult moment in the season is something that can happen and we've come through it."
Three players with yellow cards will likely sit out: midfielders Stephan Lichtsteiner, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio. The replacements will likely be Mauricio Isla, Paul Pogba and Emanuele Giaccherini.
In attack, Alessandro Matri could start, and even Nicolas Anelka could see some action if he recovers after sitting out the Napoli match with a bad back.
Celtic is without teenage striker Tony Watt, who injured his foot in training. Midfielder Scott Brown and defender Mikael Lustig are also out injured but Charlie Mulgrew could feature after recovering from a muscle problem.
Assistant coach Johan Mjallby knows Celtic has a mammoth task ahead of it but believes his players can bow out with their heads held high if they maintain their positive attitude from the first leg, which saw them have 10 shots on target.
"What we can take heart from is that when it came to the first leg we created a lot of chances and we need to be brave tomorrow night and make sure we play good attacking football," Mjallby said. "Obviously Juventus have a healthy lead and we have a mountain to climb, but we have to believe that we can do it.
"First and foremost our approach is to win the game and try to show everybody that the 3-0 win for Juventus at Parkhead was a wee bit too much. I think we can take a lot of pride if we can win away from home. If this is going to be the last game during this European adventure, we want to finish it on a high. We think we have a good enough team to win the game, but obviously to turn around 3-0 might be too much to ask."
3 News/AP
source: newshub archive
