Juventus 1-0 Chelsea
Juventus beat Chelsea tonight in Turin, to make it a perfect start to their Champions League campaign while inflicting a second defeat in a week on the Blues.
After a cagey first half which ended goalless, it took the Old Lady just 11 seconds of the second period to go ahead through Federico Chiesa, and while Chelsea huffed and puffed they rarely threatened to break through the Juve defence. After a slow start, Juventus’ domestic season is starting to improve and this was a classic Italian performance from the hosts as Max Allegri’s side snuffed out the English threat.
In the other Champions League 2021 news tonight there was a 4-0 win for Zenit St Petersburg over Malmo to put the Russians in contention alongside Chelsea in Group H, while I Bianconeri sit proudly at the top.
Highlights of the game
Summer signing Romelu Lukaku scored on his Champions League debut for Chelsea, and he had the first real chance of the night, Marcos Alonso drilling a corner across for the Belgian to hit his shot first time, but it went straight at Wojciech Szczesny. Juventus seemed to be struggling to get going and the home fans in a packed crowd started to get restless. But they were on their feet on 20 minutes when Chiesa got in behind the Blues’ defence and fired a shot that went inches wide of Edouard Mendy’s post.
The Blues continued to dominate possession but it was the Old Lady who seemed keener to try her luck, and Adrien Rabiot fired an effort from 25 yards towards the top corner, but it whistled just wide. And Juve had a good chance from a free-kick some 20 yards out, but Federico Bernardeschi managed to hit his own man, Leonardo Bonucci, with his dead ball kick… and that about summed the opening half up.
But as slow as the first half action was, the second period opened in explosive fashion when Juventus struck. The Chelsea players hardly moved as Bernardeschi broke from the kick-off and slid the ball through to Chiesa and he sent a rocket into the roof of the net giving Mendy no chance.
That seemed to spark some urgency in Chelsea and Kai Havertz tried to get Lukaku in, but Manuel Locatelli made a crucial interception and, as the Blues began to up the ante Bonucci was called on to make an important clearance. But as Chelsea started to take more chances that opened things up for Juve to hit them on the break, and the hosts had a glorious opportunity to put the game to bed when Juan Cuadrado volleyed in a cross, but Bernadeschi fired over the bar from just four yards out.
Then, with seven minutes remaining Lukaku had Chelsea’s best chance of the night when substitute Ross Barkley found him ten yards out, but the Belgian spun and fired his shot into the stands with only the keeper to beat.
Key statistics
The first half was a strange affair with the Blues totally dominating possession, at over 70 per cent, some statistic for the away side; and neither goalkeeper was particularly troubled as each attack registered just four shots and Chelsea had the only one on target, Lukaku’s effort on ten minutes.
By the end of the game the shots on target outcome was one each, but Juventus had that killer instinct.
What’s next?
The latest Champions League 2021 betting odds cast the Blues as fourth favourites to retain their title but this was a blow to Thomas Tuchel’s reigning champions.
Next up, in October, the Blues host Malmo while Juventus head to Saint-Petersburg to face Zenit.
Meanwhile, in domestic matters, following Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester City last week, Tuchel must refocus his team for the visit of Southampton on Saturday. The Saints have made a patchy start to their Premier League campaign, earning four points from their opening six games.
Serie A has the Turin derby to look forward to as I Bianconeri attempt to continue their climb up the league with a trip across the city to Torino. Led by Ivan Juric, Il Toro have made a solid start to their campaign, sitting in ninth place and unbeaten in four games, and they look set fair to improve on their 17th placed finish last term.
Make sure you keep it here at SBOTOP for the previews and best odds selection in the run-up to these games and then for the reaction, insight and highlights when the day is done.
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