Juventus have also won the second group stage match in the Champions League. After the 0-3 victory over Malmö FF two weeks ago, a hard-fought 1-0 win over Chelsea followed on Wednesday evening. Federico Chiesa scored the only goal of the game ten seconds after the break. Chelsea are stuck on three points in Group H, as are Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Juventus, with Matthijs de Ligt in the starting line-up, was under pressure in the opening phase. The game mainly took place in the home side’s half and the first chance went to Romelu Lukaku, who fired right at Wojciech Szczesny after a low corner from Marcos Alonso. In the twentieth minute a quick counter resulted in the first serious opportunity for Juventus. After losing the ball in the midfield of Mateo Kovacic, Federico Chiesa sprinted away with the ball at lightning speed, after which he was partly cut off by Antonio Rüdiger and shot past Edouard Mendy’s goal.
Chelsea had most of the ball in the first half, but Juventus seemed to have the game under control. Lukaku’s tame shot was the only chance for the visitors in the first half. In the last minute of the first half, De Ligt threw his body in front of Thiago Silva’s effort, leaving it at 0-0 before halftime. However, a lightning start gave Juventus a lead ten seconds after the break. After a long ball from the back, Adrien Rabiot headed towards Bernardeschi, who sent a through ball to Chiesa from the edge of the penalty area, who immediately found the top corner.
From kick-off??
Juventus comes out of the dressing room very sharp and Federico Chiesa shoots straight in, 1-0 ??
Will Chelsea recover from this blow? ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #JUVCHE pic.twitter.com/nuMPWPsYQU
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) September 29, 2021
The first attempts on the hunt for the winning goal came from Chelsea, but after 63 minutes came the Blues well off when Bernardeschi wiped out a great opportunity at close range after preparatory work by Rabiot and Juan Cuadrado. Juventus wanted to close the game, but also had to focus on defending the lead. It did with the knife between the teeth. In minute 83 Juventus could breathe a sigh of relief when Lukaku shot wide from the turn. Despite some perilous moments in the final minutes, including a header from Kai Havertz that sailed just over in stoppage time, the home side held on to the lead.