I can’t imagine any of you will want to relive the last couple of hours, so I’m going to sidle quietly off. The final matches in this group will be played on 16 December at 8pm GMT, when Chelsea visit Wolfsburg and Juventus bank the three points they need to secure a place in the next round at home to useless if entertaining ceremonial punchbags Servette. Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s match report. Bye!
The Juventus manager Joe Montemurro scored a rare success in his battle with Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, as the Italians earned a point at Kingsmeadow in a 0-0 draw – in which Sam Kerr was booked for shoving over a pitch invader – to give them the advantage going into the final round of group games.
Emma Hayes had alluded to the anticipated intentions of Juventus, predicting the Italian team would play for a draw at Kingsmeadow in the second meeting of these sides in the group stage.
With the Swiss side Servette, Group A’s cannon fodder, up next for Juventus and their former Arsenal manager Montemurro, a draw and three points next week in Turin would be enough for them to progress from the group regardless of the result between Chelsea and Wolfsburg on the same night.
Much more here:
I have managed to ascertain that the pitch invader ran on, took a selfie with Magdalena Eriksson, and was then unceremoniously taken out by Sam Kerr.
Juventus players here, celebrating restricting Chelsea to 25 shots while they themselves had two.
Suzanne Wrack informs me that Kerr was booked for barging over the pitch invader. The most annoying thing about that match was that the most interesting thing about that match was not even broadcast.
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Final score: Chelsea 0-0 Juventus
90+7 mins: It’s all over, and Juventus celebrate with massive group hugs and mass pile-ons!
90+6 mins: Joe Montemurro gets booked for making a fuss about a throw-in. The last 10 minutes of this game have been little better than the rest, but quite a lot angrier.
90+4 mins: Kerr goes on a good run to the edge of the Juventus penalty area, where she throws herself to the ground for no good reason. The referee waves play on.
90+2 mins: Amanda Nilden replaces Bonansea.
90+1 mins: Berger comes out of goal and over to the right to execute a fine sliding tackle on Bonansea. The Italian is so annoyed about this that she kicks Cuthbert, earning herself a booking, and Berger is so annoyed about that that she earns herself one too.
90+1 mins: There will be six minutes of stoppage time! Alas, cruel fate!
90 mins: Howling miss! Peyraud-Magnin tries to claim Reiten’s cross from the left but it’s a bit too high, and she just flaps it straight to Bright, six yards out, who shoots over the bar!
89 mins: Apparently we might have four or five minutes of stoppage time. Please no.
87 mins: There’s a fan on the pitch. The crowd shout and howl, and Sam Kerr is booked, but we’re not allowed to see what’s got them excited and the commentator isn’t allowed to tell us.
84 mins: Kirby has a shot from the edge of the area, which Peyraud-Magnin would have had to easily save had it not floated wide.
81 mins: Chelsea send a corner towards the far post, which drops only a couple of yards from the line. Most of the players on the pitch immediately throw themselves at it, of whom a couple end up in the net while Peyraud-Magnin, the Juve keeper, ends up on the floor dealing with a painful ankle. The ball, meanwhile, bobbles wide.
79 mins: Chelsea bring Melanie Leupolz on for Ji.
76 mins: Chelsea have now had 20 shots. Twenty! Of which four have been on target. Four! They have, in short, had lots of rubbish shots. Juventus have a 50% shot/on-target ratio, with one of their two efforts reaching Berger.
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73 mins: A double change for Juve, who bring Girelli and Hurtig off, and bring Andrea Staskova and Agnese Bonfantini on.
72 mins: Cuthbert crosses from the right after an actually really very good turn, but Kerr somehow manages to duck underneath it and hit it with her back. Goal kick.
69 mins: I’ve watched Chelsea often enough to know they can do a lot better than this. They’re bringing Beth England on for Harder; maybe this is the moment it all changes.
66 mins: Lina Hurtig has Juventus’s first proper shot. I say proper shot, it turned out to be more of a gentle pass to Berger, but it was at least a chance to have a proper shot.
63 mins: A substitution! Zamanian is off, and Arianna Caruso is on. Girelli’s knee issue seems to have been dealt with.
60 mins: This game has all the hallmarks of one being played in such a ludicrous gale that precision is completely impossible and the players have no choice but to just thunder about optimistically. Only there’s no gale. Peyraud-Magnin comes out of her area to deal with a rubbish back-pass, hits a rubbish clearance to a Chelsea player, who hits a rubbish pass to a Juventus player, who lets it bounce off her knees to a Chelsea player.
57 mins: Chelsea have a goal disallowed! Kirby blasts a low cross from the right, Kerr turns it in, but the flag goes up!
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56 mins: Chance for Kirby! A low cross from the right picks her out, but she shoots into the legs of a desperately sliding defender.
54 mins: Jess Carter tries to shepherd the ball out of play but Bonansea takes it off her and runs into the area. She then keeps running until she runs into another defender, who kicks it clear, and then sinks to her knees with her head in her hands.
51 mins: Harder has a decent shooting chance from the edge of the area, but it flicks off a defender’s boot and goes wide.
49 mins: Cristiana Girelli is down and apparently in pain, covering her face with her hands while physios treat her left knee.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The second half is under way.
The players are back out. The only way is up.
On the plus side, I am liveblogging this match from home, rather than from chilly Kingsmeadow, and have therefore been able to help myself to a glass of halftimely shiraz.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Juventus
45+2 mins: Listen, it hasn’t been good. What it is, though, is over. Chelsea have had 65% of possession, lead 15-1 on shots, and it looks like only a matter of time before they score with a scrappy deflected shot, wind-assisted mishit corner, or penalty. For now, though, a break and a chance to reset.
45+1 mins: There will be one minute of stoppage time.
45 mins: Reiten’s cross is cleared to Ji, just inside the area, who seems to be wiped out as she jumps for the header. The referee doesn’t see it that way, though.
44 mins: Juventus have nine defenders inside the penalty area, and though three different Chelsea players get the ball none of them can see a path to goal.
41 mins: Nothing came of that corner, and the action has now returned to the other end, where Chelsea continue to rain imprecise crosses and hopeful shots into the Juventus penalty area.
38 mins: Juventus get the ball into Chelsea’s area, quite possibly for the first time. And then they do it again! Now they’ve gone and won a corner!
35 mins: Now Peyraud-Magnin has to make a save! Millie Bright’s 30-yarder is arrowing towards the top corner, until the Juventus goalkeeper flings out her left glove.
34 mins: Chance! Kirby’s cross is just too high for Kerr, who heads high from six yards.
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33 mins: Chelsea have had 62% of possession and 100% of the 10 shots. Peyraud-Magnin, though, is yet to be forced into a significant save.
29 mins: Juventus’s defending definitely looks more bad than Chelsea’s attacking, and a home goal is looking increasingly likely. A cross from the right bounces through to Reiten, who lashes a half-volley way, way over the bar.
27 mins: Kerr misses a golden chance! She and Lenzini compete for Ji’s clearance, but Lenzini falls over and Kerr scampers clear! But she tries to go round Peyraud-Magnin, takes a heavy touch, and then has to shoot from about a foot before the goalline, and misses.
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24 mins: A fine spell of pressure from Chelsea ends with Peyraud-Magnin doing an inexplicable thigh-shovel towards Kerr, who briefly looks set to tap in to an empty net before a defender gets in the way.
22 mins: Reiten shoots from 20 yards or so. It’s straight at Peyraud-Magnin but with enough venom to force the keeper to push it over the bar instead of catching it.
20 mins: Chelsea hit the bar again! It’s entirely accidental, mind, a Sam Kerr cross from the right that comes off the outside of her right boot and floats onto the woodwork.
16 mins: The start of this match has been highly concerning. Nothing remotely good has happened yet. “Calma! Calma!” yells the shouty Italian voice.
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13 mins: Sophie Ingle’s shot goes well over the bar, and probably also a bit wide of the post. Chelsea are 4-0 ahead on shots, though none of them have been very good.
10 mins: No moments of great quality or goal threat so far. Peyraud-Magnin has just caught a cross.
7 mins: Is anyone else watching on YouTube and hearing the commentary about 10 seconds before they see the action it describes? It’s really quite disconcerting.
5 mins: Someone on the Juventus bench is doing a lot of shouting in Italian. It’s not Joe Montemurro, though. I’ve seen coaches who out-shout their managers before, but not quite to this extent.
3 mins: “We’ve watched three home Champions League matches at Servette this season, three losses to Juventus, Chelsea and Wolfsburg. 0 goals scored, 13 conceded,” reports Jez Smith. “But we still had a very good time, never gave up on our team and had some of the biggest crowds of the group stage.” It’s only a game, innit.
2 mins: Chelsea hit the bar! Cuthbert has a shot from the edge of the area, and Pauline Peyraud-Magnin palms it into the woodwork. Chelsea have a corner, and Peyraud-Magnin palms that away too.
1 min: Game on!
Right then. Coins have been tossed and preambles completed. Now for action.
It looks chilly at Kingsmeadow. I fear Joe Montemurro’s rather flimsy coat will not provide the insulation he requires.
The players are gathering in the tunnel, with kick-off but a few short minutes away.
It’s all over at the Stade de Geneve, where Wolfsburg beat Servette 3-0. Wolfsburg go to eight points with one to play, a point ahead of Juventus (who have two to play, including this game), and two behind Chelsea. Servette have no points, have scored no goals, and have a goal difference of -19.
This is all familiar ground for Joe Montemurro, the former Arsenal manager who is in the middle of his first season at Juventus and is pictured here arriving at a familiar ground.
In the early Group A game, Wolfsburg lead 1-0 at Servette (and elsewhere PSG lead 6-0 at Kharkiv).
The teams!
The team news is in, and here it all is:
Your Chelsea team to take on Juventus! 👊#CFCW #UWCL pic.twitter.com/psZUGcTUMH
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) December 8, 2021
⭐️📝 🄱🄸🄰🄽🄲🄾🅽🅴🆁🅴 𝐗𝐈#ChelseaJuve #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/wfawwF0HpH
— Juventus Women (@JuventusFCWomen) December 8, 2021
Hello world!
Having won the away fixture 2-1, and just a few days after winning the FA Cup, Chelsea head into the Eni Aluko derby knowing that victory would take them through as group winners, and that a draw would do the job in the unlikely event of Wolfsburg slipping up at Servette in the early game (in which case the Blues will be through even before they lace up their boots). The very lovely news is that you can watch the entire match for absolutely nothing - except for the cost of some hardware and an internet connection, obviously - here:
