Juventus reach Champions League last 16. Juventus sealed their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with an injury-time winner against Lokomotiv Moscow in Group D.
Substitute Douglas Costa struck the decisive blow with a cool finish as the visitors rallied late on. Aaron Ramsey handed Juve an early lead after Guilherme spilt Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick before Aleksey Miranchuk equalised.
Juventus will be joined by Atletico Madrid if they beat Bayer Leverkusen. Maurizio Sarri made seven changes to his side that won the Turin derby last weekend, handing Ramsey a first European start for the club, and the Juve boss was rewarded early on.
Guilherme allowed Ronaldo’s long-range free-kick to bounce and trickle through his legs, and the Welshman tapped his side’s 300th Champions League goal into an empty net.
Lokomotiv, who knew victory would have kept their qualification hopes in their own hands, responded after going behind and Miranchuk scored his second goal in as many games against the Italian giants to level.
The forward headed against the post to beat the diving Wojciech Szczesny before converting the loose ball into an empty net.
Ronaldo – who was denied breaking the record for scoring against the most clubs in the Champions League by Ramsey’s final touch in the first half – improved after the break.
The Portuguese forward forced Guilherme into a terrific save from a fierce shot as Juve pushed forward, while Leonardo Bonucci had to be sharp to clear Joao Mario’s shot off the line at the other end, as the hosts threatened to snatch the winner against the run of play.
Qualification was secured when Costa finished off Gonzalo Higuain’s through ball to send his side into the knockout stages, with two group games to play.
Juve become fifth club to hit 300 – the stats
- Juventus have now beaten Lokomotiv Moscow in each of their four meetings in European competition, winning both matches in the 1993-94 Uefa Cup as well as the two matches in the Champions League this season
- Juventus have kept just one clean sheet in their last five group stage matches in the Champions League – this after keeping six shutouts in their previous seven games at this stage of the competition
- Aaron Ramsey’s opening goal became the 300th goal Juventus have scored in the Champions League; the fifth club to reach this after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United
- Aleksei Miranchuk’s goal for Lokomotiv Moscow (11:45) was the earliest goal the club has scored in the Champions League since Dmitri Loskov netted against Inter Milan in the third minute of their meeting in October 2003 (02:38)
- Miranchuk became the first player to score home and away during the group stages of a Champions League campaign against Juventus since Cristiano Ronaldo back in 2013-14
- Ramsey’s goal in the third minute of the match made him the first British player to score a European Cup/Champions League goal for Juventus
Source – BBC News
In other news – Bheki Cele – Politicians must account for service delivery protests
Police Minister Bheki Cele says politicians must be called to account to residents when there is a protest instead of calling police to rein in violent protesters.
Cele was speaking on Wednesday at the ongoing Popcru (Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union) conference in Durban on Wednesday. Addressing the union, Cele lamented that fighting crime in some parts of the country, more so in informal settlements, was risky because of unstructured settlements where houses are not correctly numbered. Read more.
Source: metro
