juventus beat chelsea to put holders close to exit
goals from fabio quagliarella, arturo vidal and sebastian giovinco put juve a point from the last 16 and the holders on the brink of an early exit.
juventus beat chelsea fc 2-0 to leapfrog the uefa champions league holders into second place in group e with just one round of games remaining.
the bianconeri attacked from the start in front of their own fans and took the lead seven minutes from the break when fabio quagliarella managed to divert andrea pirlo's shot past petr Čech. arturo vidal made it two after the break, via a deflection off ramires, and substitute sebastian giovinco rounded off the scoring in added time. juve are sure to qualify, and simultaneously eliminate the holders, with a draw at fc shakhtar donetsk on matchday six.
juventus had gone close to taking the lead after just four minutes when mirko vučinic's wonderful chip from the left found stephan lichtsteiner at the back post, but Čech kept out right-back's volley, throwing himself to his left and deflecting the ball onto a post.
gianluigi buffon soon responded to his opposing captain and keeper. oscar, who scored both chelsea's goals in the 2-2 draw between these two sides on matchday one, started an amazing solo run from his own half before passing to eden hazard on his right. buffon somehow saved with his body and deflected the belgium midfielder's shot wide.
Čech was again called into action on 15 minutes, this time to palm away a powerful shot by claudio marchisio following a smart corner from pirlo. the czech republic international had less problems saving subsequent shots from quagliarella, vučinic and pirlo as juve continued to attack.
seven minutes from the interval, however, not even chelsea's no1 could prevent the hosts from taking the lead. quagliarella showed great awareness to divert pirlo's shot with his left foot, beyond Čech and into the bottom right-hand corner.
the bianconeri could have doubled their lead instantly, but ashley cole was well positioned on the line when david luiz unwittingly sent the ball towards his own goal when attempting to clear. at the other end, buffon saved a volley by mata at the end of a quick counterattack from the visitors.
juventus continued to attack after the break and Čech dived well to deflect wide a dangerous shot from pirlo before coming out on top when one-on-one with quagliarella. once again, though, he was beaten by a deflection, ramires touching vidal's first-time shot after kwadwo asamoah's burst into the penalty area.
Čech was caught out again in added time when giovinco, racing onto vidal's through ball, spotted him rushing off his line and stroked in his club's 200th uefa champions league goal, group stage to final.
