Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Juventus (agg: 1-5): Carlos Tevez brace sends Juve into Champions League last eight

Carlos Tevez celebrates scoring with his team-mates
Carlos Tevez celebrates scoring with his team-mates
Juventus beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie to book their place in the quarter-finals of the competition 5-1 on aggregate.
Carlos Tevez gave the visitors a dream start by scoring from distance after just three minutes, before fellow frontman Alvaro Morata doubled their advantage with 20 minutes to go.
And Tevez made sure of the result by scoring his second goal of the night after 79 minutes as Juve progressed to the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition for just the second time since 2006.
The visitors took little time silencing a rocking Westfalenstadion as Tevez unleashed a fiercely struck drive from fully 30 yards out that flew past a startled Roman Weidenfeller in Dortmund’s goal for his sixth goal in just eight Champions League games this season.
However, while the Argentine’s strike was impressive, the goalkeeper will no doubt be disappointed to have been beaten from such a long range out, the first goal Weidenfeller had conceded at home in 216 minutes.
And that stunning strike appeared to knock the stuffing out of Dortmund, at least for the first half of the opening period, as Juve went in search of a second goal to kill off the home team’s resistance.
In fact, Swiss right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner very nearly provided it after 17 minutes with a 35-yard piledriver that forced a nervy looking Weidenfeller into a desperate save, but gradually Dortmund worked themselves into the encounter, helped by an untimely hamstring injury to Juventus playmaker Paul Pogba just before the half-hour mark.
Tevez celebrates with Arturo Vidal
Hard as they pressed in search of the two goals they needed to take the tie into extra time, Jurgen Klopp’s side just could not find a way past a well-marshalled and disciplined Juventus defence.
As the match headed into the second half and the clock continued to tick away, so Dortmund became more desperate, with spaces at the back beginning to appear with increasing regularity.
And Spain international Alvaro Morata should have killed the game as a contest when presented with two glorious chances in the space of five minutes early in the second half, only for Weidenfeller to deny the striker on both occasions with smart blocks in one-on-one situations.
But those two misses were not to prove costly to the Serie A champions as Morata put the tie out of sight after 70 minutes after Tevez broke clear of Dortmund’s malfunctioning back line, before the diminutive forward laid a goal on a plate for his strike partner.
Nine minutes later and Tevez inflicted yet more pain on Dortmund and their fans after fine approach from Argentine midfielder Roberto Pereyra, who slipped his compatriot through on goal before the 31-year-old made no mistake in netting his 23rd goal of the campaign to seal Juve’s place in the quarter-finals.

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