juve find winning groove against nordsjælland published: wednesday 7 november 2012, 23.16cet
three first-half goals put the visitors to the sword as impressive juve halted their record sequence of nine successive european draws in style.
by paolo menicucci from juventus stadium
juventus emphatically ended their record run of nine consecutive draws in uefa competition, including three in group e, by scoring four goals without reply against fc nordsjælland.
claudio marchisio gave the bianconeri an early lead after a smooth team move, before arturo vidal and sebastian giovinco added two more during a breathless first half in which the serie a pacesetters proved their class. second-half substitute fabio quagliarella headed in the fourth for juventus, who now sit third with six points, one behind fc shakhtar donetsk and their next opponents chelsea fc.
the hosts were dominant from the outset in turin, going in front after six minutes. kwadwo asamoah started the move on the left, finding andrea pirlo, who immediately picked out mauricio isla on the opposite flank. the right-back sent in a low cross for marchisio to thump in from close range.
marchisio could have scored another ten minutes later when he latched onto a precise pass by vidal, but his close-range shot was well saved by the onrushing jesper hansen and giovinco missed the rebound. shortly after, vidal fired over from a promising position following a neat giovinco pull-back as juventus continued to press.
vidal made amends on 23 minutes, albeit in unusual fashion. his first attempt was blocked by kasper lorentzen, yet as the nordsjælland man tried to control the loose ball, the chile midfielder slid in at his feet and squirmed the ball past hansen at the near post.
the goalkeeper was alert to deny isla, although he could only watch as alessandro matri's header, from a pirlo corner, crashed against the crossbar moments later. hansen did not have long to wait to show his ability again, however, palming away a powerful strike by marchisio from the edge of the box. eight minutes before the interval, though, juventus made it three when giovinco collected a pirlo pass and placed the ball inside the left upright with a wonderful angled effort.
after the restart, the danish champions' coach kasper hjulmand introduced søren christensen and anders christiansen in a bid to shore up a porous midfield, but hansen was again called into action by vidal. instead it was another substitute, juventus's quagliarella, who had a major impact, nodding in from point-blank range after matri had flicked on another pirlo corner with 15 minutes left.
juve are now within touching distance of the top two, yet will need a similarly impressive display when they entertain holders chelsea on 20 november.
