Full-time: Monaco 0-1 Juventus
Vidal’s penalty gives Juventus a valuable lead to take into the second leg. They deserved it overall, even if Monaco proved accomplished opponents. Juve can now approach the away leg in the way they always like, with the onus on Monaco to attack them and, in so doing, leave gaps to exploit. Now now I, like Monaco, am going home. Au revoir.
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90+2 min: Juve create a chance to score the goal that would leave Monaco needing to scale the Alps. But Lichtsteiner’s curler from 20 yards was lazily hit and saved easily by Subasic.
90+1 min: In the first of three added minutes, Kurzawa sends a well-struck cross too close to the keeper, who clasps it gratefully.
90 min: This time Berbatov puts in a mighty leap to meet a long crossfield hoik. His flick-on provokes momentary confusion in the juve defence until Bonucci nods back safely to Buffon.
87 min: Juve substitution: Pereyra off, Sturaro on.
86 min: Tevez sends a low shot whizzing across the grass like a snake fired from a sniper’s rifle. Into the sidenetting.
85 min: Corner to Juve. The ever-vigiliant Abdennour nuts it clear. The Tunisian then rushes across to swipe the ball off Tevez after Juve worked it back into the box.
84 min: Corner to Monaco. Kondogbia twists in the air to meet an outswinger but he can’t apply enough power to his header to perturb Buffon.
82 min: Juve substitution: Morata off, having had an unsuccessful evening in terms of his personal performance, Matri on.
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81 min: Berbatov’s second notably contribution is to push over a defender in apparent frustration at being unable to reach an overhit cross. Nothing languid about that, in fairness.
78 min: Brilliant play by Vidal, who never stops scavenging for the ball. Through sheer pugnacity he foils a threatening Monaco attack, outmuscling and then outskilling Silva and Ferreira-Carrasco.
74 min: Juve change: Pirlo off, Barzagli on. Juve not hellbent on chasing a second goal, then.
72 min: Berbatov should have claimed that away goal with his first touch! His six-yard header from a corner was, would you believe, too casual. If he’d butted it like he really meant it, he’d have surely found the net or at least forced Buffon into a difficult save, but he jumped like with all the conviction of a self-conscious dancer and glanced his header wide.
71 min: So what does this portend? Monaco are replacing Raggi, their right-back, with Berbatov. Presumably that means Fabinho will drop from midfield to his more familiar position of right-back, while Berbatov will join Martial to form two-man attack: they want that away goal, and no mistake.
69 min: Monaco are going for it but they’re performing a little like Juve in the first half, running out of ideas too quickly and attempting outlandish long shots. Carrasco-Ferreira scuds one way off target from 25 yards.
66 min: Morata blems a wobbler at goal from 25 yards. It bounces inches wide.
64 min: Juve offer surprising evidence that they may have been watching Liverpool last night, as they overplay nonsensically in the box, turning down a couple of shooting opportunities before their move is broken up.
63 min: A bolt from the blue by the boys in blue. Kondogbia robbed the ball in midfield and then strode forward and dug out a surprising shot from 20 yards. Buffon reacted well to dab it over the bar.
60 min: The goal has acted like an injection of a powerful stimulant into Juve, who obviously wouldn’t know anything about such things. They’re hounding Monaco frantically now in an attempt to stop the visitors from finding any kind of attacking flow.
GOAL! Juventus 1-0 Monaco (Vidal pen 57)
Vidal sends the keeper the wrong way and the ball high into the far corner. An unstoppable shot. Now, what can Monaco muster by way of retort?
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56 min: Pirlo floats a magnificent pass from inside his own half over the Monaco defence. There is no way Carvahlo is going to catch Morata ... so he drags him down! A blatant penalty! And, somehwat surprisingly, the ref decides only to book the defender. But will Vidal punish him properly from the spot?
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55 min: Monaco reinforce the fact that, no matter ho stressed they may be at the back, they remain a menace on the counter. A long throw from Subasic set them in motion and one more pass was enough to put Ferreira-Carrasco through on goal. Racing in from the left he fired towards the near post rather than the far one, and Buffon palmed it behind.
54 min: Juve are threatening to push Monaco back agains the ropes here and give them a proper pounding. They’re raised the tempo and their attacking intent and the visitors are having to show all their renowned defiance to keep them at bay.
52 min: A let-off for Monaco as a Juve corner hurtles right across the face of their goal, with both Chiellini and Tevez straining but failing to turn the ball in from close range!
51 min: Monaco substitution: Dirar hobbles off, Bernardo Silva lopes on.
50 min: Vidal tries another long-range effort, his farthest one yet. He makes a good connection but not good enough to beat Subasic from 30 yards.
48 min: Evra loses the ball deep in his own territory and Dirar tries to punish him. The winger sends over a wicked cross that Bonucci is forced to hook behind for a corner. Raggi gets a good loaf to that but the ball goes over the bar.
46 min: We’re back, with the same personnel as before. Let’s se what Juve can do differently.
Half-time: Juve 0-0 Monaco
It’s been an engrossing game, with far more to admire than the blank scoreline suggests. Juve started bristly and then seemed in danger of being quashed by a Monaco side that have been typically solid throughout and very swift on the break. But the Italians grabbed the initiative back and even managed to forge two gaping opening - both of which they missed. Those misses by Tevez and Vidal could prove costly. What we have here, folks, is a regular cliffhanger.
44 min: Beautiful incisive ball from deep by Tevez to Vidal! The Chilean, darting into the box from the left, takes a sumptuous first touch and seems set to curl the ball into the far corner ... but he gets way under his shot and balloons it over the bar! “Re Karl Tulinius on Berbatov finishing his career with a CL final: I would love to see it as long as the winner is the same,” quips Gene Salorio.
43 min: Pirlo eschews the shot and instead drifts a 25-yards freekick towards the back post. Well defended by Monaco, naturellement.
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41 min: Monaco defenders momentarily seem frazzled as Juve whirr around the box, with Tevez and Marchisio looking dangerous. But Dirar backtracks to help out his team-mates and thwart the hosts. Excellent work by the winger.
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38 min: Penalty? No! Martial raced down the left again and into the area, with Chiellini desperately trying to keep up. But, in fairness, the defender did brilliantly to get his body in front of the young forward and hold him off. Martial went down but the ref was right to ignore the appeals for a penalty.
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36 min: Abdennour has been excellent so far for Monaco. And so has 36-year-old Ricardo Carvahlo.
34 min: Carrasco-Ferreira, who looks dangerous every time he gets the ball, receives a pass from Kondogbia and tries to pick his way through the Italian defence and into the box. He almost succeeded, but Bonucci foiled him at the last.
32 min: Monaco try to shift the play up the other end to defuse the rising pressure around their box. Martial skedaddles towards the Juve area but runs into trouble after beating two men.
31 min: Another dinky Juve move ends around 30 yards from goal, when Marchisio tries his luck. They’re resorting to the long shot too quickly, as if lacking confidence in their ability to get any closer despite Tevez’s recent sitter.
29 min: Fine work by Vial to pinch the ball off Mountinho in midfield. Suddenly it’s Juventus who have a chance to launch a rapid counter-attack. But it fizzles out with another inconsequential long shot.
26 min: What a chance! That was the opening for which Juve were craving and which they must have feared would not come! Uncharacteristically, Monaco lost sight of Tevez in the box. Marchisio spotted him, though, and floated a lovely ball over from the right. Steaming in at the back post, the Argentine just had to give it welly and direction - but his fluffed his shot and offered an easy save to Subasic!
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24 min: Juve have steadied themselves over the last few minutes by circulating the ball with aplomb. But still no sign of them infiltrating that Monaco defence, and their move concludes with an almost resigned shot from distance by Vidal. Way off target.
21 min: Pereyra tries to ferret his way down the right and into the Monaco area, but Kurzawa eventually chases him away.
19 min: Juve have lost their way. Monaco are bossing midfield, where Kondogbia is making them rue the absence of his old mucker, Pogba. This is a very accomplished performance so far by the visitors, who are growing in confidence. Juve have a real job on their hands here.
17 min: As Kurzawa sends a vicious cross towards the back post, Vidal slides in to concede a corner. The Monaco menace is mounting and the home fans are showing their anxiety by whistling. Nervous times in Turin. Meanwhile, Kurzawa leaps well to meet the corner but fails to steer his header towards goal.
15 min: Dirar becomes the latest player to prove that Monaco have several players fast enough to alarm Juve on the break. After haring down the right when Juve cough up possession, he sweeps the ball to Moutinho, who tries a crack from 22 yards. But, like an abusive tweeter, it’s blocked.
12 min: It’s going to be fascinating to see how Juve react to this start: they began as if determined to put away Monaco early doors, but the French side have proven they are a real threat on the counter attack and have created the better chances so far. Will Juve get more coy for fear of conceding an away goal?
11 min: Buffon has to make another good save, tipping the ball behind for a corner after Ferreira-Carrasco’s 20-yard hot takes a deflection and heads towards the corner.
10 min: Oh la la! Martial shows why he was chosen ahead of Berbatov, racing down the left before playing a fine bass towards Carrasco Ferreira near the penalty spot. The Belgian smashes a powerful low shot towards goal ... but straight at Buffon, who shows sharp reflexes to stop it.
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8 min: Monaco show their teeth for the first time, Kurzawa letting rip from 20 yards, wide on the left. It’s a decent effort but Buffon can watch it fly over his bar.
6 min: Tevez let fly from the edge of the area, forcing a solid save from Subasic.
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4 min: There’s a pleasing fizz to Juve’s approach so far. They’re popping the ball around with speed and precision. After Evra crossed for for Tevez, the striker’s shot was blocked but Juve regained possession and knocked it around before Pirlo clipped a dainty ball over the top to Morata, who blazed wildly high from 16 yards.
2 min: Kondogbia nicks the ball off Pirlo in midfield. Which reminds me: I saw a report the other day claiming that Liverpool were preparing an £8m swoop for the French midfielder this summer. If there is genuinely someone at Anfield who believes they could get him for that, then that person is smoking something much stronger than whatever Raheem Sterling might be having.
1 min: It’s on! Juve kick off. Monaco immediately roll up and bare their quills.
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The teams wiggle out on to the pitch. For those of you watching in black and white, Juve are in black and white. Meanwhile, Monaco are wearing azure as if to ingratiate themselves with Italians.
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“I can’t say I care deeply one way or another about which team progresses, but the football romantic within can’t help but wish to see Berbatov end his career with a Champions League final,” simpers Karl Tulinius. “He’s always been a fresh breath of insouciance in a sport brimming with souciance.”
You have to say the atmosphere at the Juventus Stadium sounds magnificent: here are the Monaco players emerging for the warm-up. I do believe the soundtrack is sung by Brian Johnson: if he squints, he just might be able to convince himself that the players in black-and-white in this Champions League quarter-final are his beloved Newcastle United.
Entrée des joueurs pour l'échauffement ! #JUVASM #UCL pic.twitter.com/kxGMbcAbJY
— AS MONACO (@AS_Monaco) April 14, 2015
Teams:
Juve: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Chiellini, Evra; Marchisio, Pirlo, Vidal. Pereyra; Tevez, Morata
Subs: Storari, Pepe, Llorente, Barzagli, Padoin, Sturaro, Matri
Monaco: Subasic; Raggi, R Carvahlo, Abdennour, Kurzawa; Fabinho, Kondogbia; Dirar, Moutinho, Ferreira Carrasco; Martial
Subs: Stekelenburg, Berbatov, M Caravahlo, Wallace, Silva, Germain, Elderson
Ref: P Kralovec (cze)
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Preamble:
There will be as many hang-gliding elephants in the Champions League quarter-finals as there will be Premier League teams. Unless, that is, something amazing happens. Mind you, something amazing has already happened, insofar as no one expected Monaco to reach this stage of the tournament after a summer of apparent down-sizing. So watch out for those elephants!
Yes, here Monaco are, and they fancy their chances of pulling off another surprise by beating Juventus, who have never been eliminated from European competition by a French club. “We fancy our chances of pulling off another surprise by beating Juventus, who have never been eliminated from European competition by a French club,” Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim more or less said by way of preview, and you can understand why he is so confident: Monaco have the best defence in the tournament so far and Juve are deprived of the injured Paul Pogba.
Tonight’s first leg may be Monaco’s best chance of landing a decisive blow in the tie, as Jardim’s impeccably-drilled counter-attacking side are more dangerous on the road than they are at home, as shown by their record in Ligue 1 this season (32 points gained away, 26 at home) and, indeed, against Arsenal in the last round. But – and here is something that Jardim really did say - “Juventus are a better team than Arsenal”, or at least a more solid and savvy one than Arsenal seemed in their first-leg loss to the Monégasques, and they have plenty of other threats besides Pogba. In fact, Juve tend to play in a similar style to Monaco but, perhaps crucially, they generally have a sharper cutting edge, chiefly thanks to Caros Tevez, who has hit six goals in his last six Champions League outings. What we’re saying, then, is that Juventus will win tonight 2-0. But if you want to stick around and check whether things really do unfold that way, then you are most welcome to do so.
Kick off: 7:45pm (BST)
