Gonzalo Higuain bagged a brace on Dani Alves assists for an impressive 2-0 victory away to Monaco, putting Juventus close to the Champions League Final.
See how it all unfolded and check post-match comments first on the Liveblog.
Gonzalo Higuain bagged a brace on Dani Alves assists for an impressive 2-0 victory away to Monaco, putting Juventus close to the Champions League Final.
See how it all unfolded and check post-match comments first on the Liveblog.
The Bianconeri entered the Stade Louis II for the first leg of this Champions League semi-final having conceded only two goals in the tournament. They faced 18-year-old sensational Kylian Mbappé, who had already helped eliminate Tottenham, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
Claudio Marchisio stepped in for suspended Sami Khedira, but Juan Cuadrado was surprisingly dropped, moving Dani Alves into an attacking role and Andrea Barzagli in a mutated 3-5-2. Djibril Sidibé hadn’t played since undergoing emergency surgery for appendicitis at the start of April, but started with Tiemoué Bakayoko wearing a mask for his fractured nose. Benjamin Mendy was not even on the bench due to a muscular problem. Gigi Buffon marked his 100th Champions League appearance with Juventus, 106th overall.
Juve had an aggressive start but Higuain fell over when trying to reach a Paulo Dybala pass, then failed to get his head to a Dani Alves volleyed cross.
Mbappé sprung the offside trap after a corner, but the header was straight at Buffon. The teenager had a great chance on 16 minutes, getting his volley to a Nabil Dirar cross from six yards, but Buffon made a great save at the near post.
The hosts put together a period of pressure, Radamel Falcao’s header was fingertipped wide, but Higuain’s volley from a corner was neither shot nor assist.
Higuain seemed to be very wasteful, but he broke the deadlock with his first goal in the knockout round this season. It was a magnificent team move started in Juve’s own half with a Dybala back-heel flick, Dani Alves combined with Higuain, the Brazilian back-heeled it into his path and Pipita stroked home the finish from 12 yards.
Monaco continued to have spells of possession and pressure, but only really caused concern after a Miralem Pjanic error. Straight after the restart, Buffon waited till the last second to go down and block Falcao’s effort from a Bernardo Silva assist. The goalkeeper also rushed off his line to smother at Mbappe’s feet on a Thomas Lemar through ball.
Marchisio won back possession to surge forward and was denied by Danijel Subasic one-on-one, then Monaco immediately countered with an Mbappé attempt charged down and nobody got on the end of a dangerous Dirar ball across the face of goal.
Just as the game was opening up, Juventus doubled their lead. Dani Alves and Dybala pressed Monaco to win back possession in midfield, then the Brazilian placed a perfect cross for Higuain to slide on to. Incredibly, this was the first Champions League game in his entire career with two Dani Alves assists.
Giorgio Chiellini was booked for an elbow on Falcao, then ran a huge risk with his fresh-air clearance and Joao Moutinho’s free kick flashed past everyone, including Buffon, to skim the far post.
In stoppages, Buffon flew to fingertip a Valere Germain header over the crossbar from another set play, extending his clean sheet in the Champions League to 621 minutes of football.
Monaco 0-2 Juventus
Higuain 29, 59 (J)
Monaco: Subasic; Dirar, Glik, Jemerson, Sidibé; Bernardo Silva (Traore 82), Fabinho, Bakayoko (Joao Moutinho 66), Lemar (Germain 67); Falcao, Mbappé
Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Dani Alves, Marchisio (Rincon 81), Pjanic (Lemina 89), Mandzukic, Alex Sandro; Dybala, Higuain (Cuadrado 77)
Ref: Lahoz (ESP)