JUVENTUS 2-2 CHELSEA (2-3 Agg)

Well, that was a nervy old game eh?

I have no idea why because it’s completely out of character for me but I felt just a tiny bit optimistic about this game. Maybe it was because Essien was getting his first start in six months and Nicolas Anelka was back which meant Malouda and Kalou weren’t. Or maybe it was more to do with the unbeaten start Guus Hiddink has had since taking over from Scolari, but whatever it was, I let myself get a bit excited.

That excitement lasted all of 19 minutes until Vincenzo Iaquinta put Juventus a goal up on the night, levelling the tie 1-1. To be honest, we looked a bit shaken and were second best for long periods in the first half, but as Michael Ballack would say, we ‘reacted’ with the spirit required. On 45 minutes, Didier Drogba lined up to take a free-kick which Buffon stopped – ok, so he stopped it once it was just inside the post – but these European games appear to allow for that against us anyway, so we had to rely on a sense of injustice and Michael Essien pouncing on Lampard’s rebound off the bar to make sure the Italian keeper didn’t get a touch this time.

2-1 up at the break and we were definitely the better side in the second half. So you’d have thought Giogio Chiellini’s sending off with a second yellow could only have helped our cause – and maybe it would’ve if Juliano Belletti, coming on for Essien, hadn’t confused himself for our keeper when faced with a Del Piero free-kick.

Needless to say, it was Del Piero who then stepped up – well, once the ref had had a five minute spell in which to communicate the decision to the players anyway – sending Petr Cech the wrong way. Were we nervous yet? Well, I think it’s fair to say I was starting to feel my usual pessimistic self again at this stage. Fortunately though, the Chelsea we’re seeing under Hiddink don’t seem to let something as trivial as conceding a goal bother them and if anything it has the reverse effect because Juliano Belletti, making up for his earlier cock-up, put in a lovely cross for the rejuvenated Drogba, who duly put it away, sending us into the last 8 for the third year running.

TEAMS

JUVENTUS: Buffon, Grygera, Mellberg, Chiellini, Molinaro, Tiago, Marchisio, Nedved, Iaquinta, Del Piero, Trezeguet. Subs: Manninger, Zebina, Salihamidzic, Amauri, Poulsen, Giovinco, Ariaudo.
CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole, Mikel, Ballack, Essien, Lampard, Drogba, Anelka. Subs: Hilario, Carvalho, Malouda, Deco, Kalou, Belletti, Mancienne.

GOALS

JUVENTUS: Iaquinta 19, Del Piero 74, (pen)

CHELSEA: Essien 45, Drogba 83

Filed under: Europe, Match report