Clinical Juventus crush Celtic dreams
Reuters - Tuesday 12 February 2013, 21:40
Juventus capitalised on Celtic's decision to throw Efe Ambrose into
their Champions League last 16 first leg two days after he won the
Africa Cup of Nations by exposing the tired defender in a 3-0 win on
Tuesday.
Ambrose was part of
the Nigeria team which triumphed in South Africa but he was at fault for
Juve's third minute opener by Alessandro Matri, missed a key chance at
1-0 in the second period and faded badly as the Italians raced away.
Claudio
Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic netted after 77 and 83 minutes with Ambrose
floundering to all but put the twice European champions into the
quarter-finals with Celtic facing a monumental task in Turin in the
second leg on March 6.
"I
think the scoreline flatters Juventus. I thought for the best part of
the game, for the first 70 minutes until the second goal, we were by far
the better side but you can't give away sloppy goals like that," Celtic
manager Neil Lennon told ITV.
"[Ambrose] was poor for the first goal. We've switched off defensively for the second goal and the third goal was poor.
"We need a miracle. That's the harsh reality of Champions League football."
The
Scottish champions did beat mighty Barcelona at home in the group stage
but even those heroics will pale by comparison if they somehow knock
out the Italian title holders and league leaders.
A
rugged Juve had to fight in the first half against a fast and furious
British pace they are not used to in the more leisurely Serie A and
jubilant goalscorer Marchisio was already looking past the second leg.
"Tonight
we have given out an important signal. The result was crucial because
it allows us to concentrate on the domestic league," he told Mediaset
television.
CELTIC ONSLAUGHT
Juve
goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had tried to play down the impact of
Celtic's famously noisy fans ahead of the match but even the coolest of
Italians would have struggled not to have been affected by the almost
60,000 screaming home supporters.
Almost
all of the Celtic fans stood with scarves aloft and sang a stirring
rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" before kick-off but soon they were
cursing their luck after Ambrose's feelgood factor from Nigeria's title
win quickly evaporated.
The
centre-back got caught out by a ball played over the top of the defence
and Matri easily outmuscled him before prodding it between goalkeeper
Fraser Forster's legs.
Wilson
ran back to hook it away and although the ball had already just crossed
the line, Marchisio fired home the clearance just in case.
That was the only real chance Juve had in the first half as they were then forced to withstand a Celtic onslaught.
Commons
was just wide with an overhead kick in the pick of their chances while
midfielder Victor Wanyama also twice went close as Celtic looked to
storm back and win like they did 4-3 in their last home meeting with
Juve in 2001.
Andrea Pirlo
clashed repeatedly with Scott Brown in the midfield but Lichtsteiner's
continuous battle with Gary Hooper at corners as the Celtic striker
tried to block Buffon could easily have warranted a spot-kick or red
card for either player.
Celtic,
the 1967 European Cup winners who last reached the Champions League
first knockout round in 2008, ran out of steam after the break but
Ambrose spurned a chance to redeem himself by heading straight at Buffon
when free.
Slightly out of
the blue, Italy midfielder Marchisio then struck after being set up by
Matri and Montenegro forward Vucinic made it three in style as Celtic,
and especially Ambrose, hit a wall of fatigue.