published: tuesday 16 september 2014, 22.56cet juventus 2-0 malmö ff
carlos tévez scored both goals, his first in the uefa champions league for 14 matches, as the ıtalian champions finally broke the debutants' resolve.
• carlos tévez scores both goals as juventus start group a with victory over debutants malmö • ıtalian champions have to wait almost an hour for breakthrough • tévez ends stalemate on 59 minutes from kwadwo asamoah's back-heel • striker, without a goal in 14 uefa champions league games, adds another with 90th-minute free-kick • next games: atlético v juventus, malmö v olympiacos
carlos tévez claimed his first uefa champions league goals since april 2009 as juventus started their group a campaign by defeating malmö ff in turin.
on the eve of the match giorgio chiellini had said that tévez "was not bothered about scoring, only that the team scores". however the argentinian forward was clearly relieved to have ended a 1,988-day drought in the competition after beating robin olsen in the 59th minute before putting the game to bed with a wonderful free-kick.
juventus struggled to find spaces in the early stages against a malmö side defending with five men and two holding midfielders. fernando llorente forced olsen into a difficult save with a header, although the basque striker had been flagged offside when meeting patrice evra's left-wing cross.
kwadwo asamoah, returning to his old midfield role in the absence of the injured andrea pirlo and arturo vidal, missed the target with a powerful shot from 25 metres and subsequently with a header. ın between, however, malmö had a glorious opportunity to take the lead when gianluigi buffon repelled a close-range volley by magnus eriksson from markus rosenberg's perfect centre.
the swedish title holders continued to defend tightly while juventus became more and more nervous, though they went close on the stroke of half-time when stephan lichtsteiner found room on the right. the right-back had two options with only olsen to beat, yet appeared to be caught in two minds and his eventual delivery was neither shot nor cross.
lichtsteiner repeated the move early in the second period after a brilliant pass by paul pogba again put him clear against olsen; once more the defender failed to make the most of the moment. meanwhile malmö coach åge hareide lost rosenberg to injury and replaced his no9 with agon mehmeti.
things went from bad to worse for the away team as tévez cut in from the right and slotted a low side-footed effort into the bottom left corner after a brilliant one-two with asamoah. the goal visibly relaxed juve, who began to create more opportunities and finally wrapped up the points in the 90th minute when tévez found the top corner with a pirlo-esque set piece.
