Juventus-1 vs. Zenit St Petersberg-0

Juventus favourite Alessando Del Piero single handedly ensured that Zenit now face an uphill struggle to progress from the Champions League group stage.

The veteran striker fired home a second half winner that broke the deadlock and won the 3 points for Juventus. The game had been a skillful, exciting contest with both sides having chances.

Zenit started the better with their Portugese winger Danny narrowly shooting wide. Many felt the winger could have done better from 12 yards out.

David Trezeguet then had the first real chance for the Italian giants. Alas, his header narrowly fell the wrong side of the post. Nevertheless he remained lively and proved a constant threat for Juve. Trezeguet’s attempt led the way for a period of intnse Juve pressure, Del Piero shot wide, Momo Sissoko had a couple of stinging shots deflected and Mauro Camoranesi headed Del Piero’s free kick against the crossbar. However the lively winger was soon forced off with a knee injury, replaced by Hasan Salihamidzic.

The substitution shook Juve up a bit with Zenit winger Danny taking the oppurtunity to unleash a 20 yard drive at goal. Fortunately for the home side his shot dipped over the bar.

The first half ended with a spell of passing for both teams, with both sides keen on going into the break at a level scoreline.

Juve came out for the second half brighter, Trezeguet’s shot narrowly went over as Juve surged forward. Chiellini had a decent shot and Poulsen had a good header tipped over.

However on the 75 minute mark there was nothing the keeper could have done to deny Del Piero’s wonderful freekick.

Zenit came forward after the goal but couldn’t find the equaliser as Juve took home the 3 points leaving Zenit needing to win against BATE and even possibly Real Madrid.

MATCH FACTS:

Teams
Juventus	Zenit St Petersburg
1 Gianluigi Buffon	16 Vyacheslav Malafeev
33 Nicola Legrottaglie	28 Sebastien Puygrenier
28 Christian Molinaro	22 Alexander Anyukov
21 Zdenek Grygera	4 Ivica Krizanac
3 Giorgio Chiellini	44 Anatoliy Tymoschuk
22 Mohamed Sissoko	27 Igor Denisov
18 Christian Poulsen	11 Radek Sirl
16 Mauro German Camoranesi	18 Konstantin Zyryanov
11 Pavel Nedved	10 Andrei Arshavin
17 David Trezeguet	19 Danny
10 Alessandro Del Piero	8 Pavel Pogrebnyak

Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Italy
Attendance: 22,000
Match Time: 19:45 UK