Once again Serie A team Juventus have shown their composure as they beat La Liga side Sevilla FC 3-1 in the UEFA Champions League group H fixture.
Before the match, Juventus was described as the underdogs for the reason that they were playing away from home and were missing their two top strikers, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain.
All Sevilla had to do in this game was to draw level to book their place in the next stage of the Champions League tournament.
For Juventus it was simple, win the game and it would place them in the hot seat to finish first place providing if they would beat Dinamo Zagreb in the last group game.
The first 20 minutes of the game it was all Sevilla. The first goal came in the 9th minute with Sevilla’s central defender Nicolas Pareja slotting the ball into the net from outside the Juventus 18-yard box. Not even the world class Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon managed to keep it out. From then on the game was all about Sevilla controlling the possession and giving Juventus a nightmare.
In the 36th minute, Juventus surely thanked Sevilla midfielder, Franco Vazquez, as he committed a foul on Sami Khedira and claiming his second yellow card only to be shown the red card that sent him off the pitch.
The former Palermo player left Sevilla down to ten men and surely marked a poor impression upon the Italian side.
Sevilla fans might find this as an excuse that lost them the game but before the second half ended, Juventus were awarded a spot kick just in the second minute of overtime.
Referee Mark Clattenburg witnessed Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci being pulled by the shirt by Sevilla’s defenders which gave him the firm decision to call for a penalty. Claudio Marchisio stepped up for Juventus and would calmly strike the ball into the low right corner to bring the game level at 1-1 before halftime.
In the second half, Juventus maintained more possession but were simply not playing with the urgency in attack. Clattenburg provided another decisive call early in the second half when he gave orders to Sevilla manager Jorge Sampaoli to go to the stands.
This was the right call because the referee was simply not going to be intimidated on how to do his job. Juventus was patiently waiting for the right moment to snatch the lead but the commentators were describing Juve’s performance as “disappointing” by not playing well in the final third.
However, that comment came back to haunt them as Juventus would go into the lead in the 84th minute from a Leonardo Bonucci goal. Bonucci found himself in space and would have a go by shooting low into the right corner where Sevilla’s goalkeeper Sergio Rico couldn’t reach.
With Juventus having 58% possession towards the end of the match, Sevilla was trying to push up its players to hopefully go find an equaliser. Although in the 94th minute of injury time this high pressing movement by Sevilla only left their defence exposed to a counter attack by Juventus.
Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic wouldn’t waste the counter attack by producing a clinical goal only to confuse the defender in the process and to kill off the game for Sevilla. The dramatic game ended 3-1 and saw Juventus take the 3 points away from home to take first position on the group H table.
Even though Juventus didn’t have their full starting squad due to an injury crisis, manager Massimiliano Allegri will be extremely proud of how his players dealt with this game especially with the top place in the group being on the line. This game is a true reflection of how hard Juventus work in order to achieve the best possible result in any fixture. Sevilla Spanish striker Victor Vitolo stated in a post interview that “Clattenburg sunk Sevilla”.
Sevilla shouldn’t blame the referee for their loss as they created the problems to themselves by having one of their players getting sent off for committing unnecessary fouls and having their manager sent off to the stands only to distract the team. Now football commentators and experts who predicted Sevilla to win might want to reconsider that Juventus are an Italian club that contains depth and diversity in their squad and will never give up no matter the odds against them.
Juventus will now be celebrating the victory but before the game, a Juventus fan was stabbed by Sevilla fans. This is not what the true game of football is about. The Champions League should bring European clubs and nations together.
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