buffon Juventus will face Barcelona in the
Champions League final after Alvaro Morata
came back to haunt his former club with the
precious away goal in a 1-1 draw in the
second leg of their semi-final on Wednesday
to progress 3-2 on aggregate.
With Juventus leading 2-1 from the first leg,
Cristiano Ronaldo’s first-half penalty had put
the defending European champions ahead
on away goals. However, Morata, who left
Madrid for the Italian champions last July,
struck the vital blow when he volleyed home
Paul Pogba’s knockdown on 57 minutes to
take Juventus to their first final in 12 years
in Berlin on June 6.
Real Madrid got off to a good start and
Gareth Bale had the first chance as he
headed over Marcelo’s cross before Karim
Benzema blasted off target from a narrow
angle having turned Stephan Lichtsteiner
brilliantly inside the area.
Ronaldo then saw a free-kick deflected
narrowly over, but Juventus were also
enjoying good spells of possession and Iker
Casillas was forced into action on 13
minutes when he turned Arturo Vidal’s effort
from the edge of the box to safety.
Benzema breached the Juventus backline
once more six minutes later, but his pass
was behind Ronaldo and the Portuguese
couldn’t turn the ball into an unguarded net.
The unrelenting Madrid pressure continued
as Bale’s piledriver was brilliantly turned
behind by Gianluigi Buffon.
However, there was nothing the Italian
captain could do to prevent Ronaldo
registering his tenth goal in Champions
League semi-finals from the spot after
James Rodriguez had been felled by Giorgio
Chiellini midway through the half. Buffon
came to his side’s rescue with two more
saves from Benzema, whilst Ronaldo also
smashed into the side-netting and wasted a
clear opening by trying to square for Isco
with the goal at his mercy before half-time.
Claudio Marchisio was first to take aim after
the break as his driven effort flew just
beyond Casillas’s right-hand post. Juventus
did get the all-important away goal just
before the hour mark when Madrid failed to
fully clear from Andrea Pirlo’s free-kick and
Morata was on hand to volley home after
Pogba outmuscled Sergio Ramos.
Bale had the chance to silence his critics
five minutes later as Marcelo stormed down
the left and his low cross was sliced wide
by the Welshman at the near post. Casillas
kept Madrid in the tie as he spread himself
to make a fine save from Marchisio as the
game raged from end to end.
Bale headed over from Ronaldo’s cross as
the European champions grip on the trophy
started to slip away. Casillas denied
Juventus victory on the night by getting
strong hands to Pogba’s drive.
But their captain’s efforts were in vain as
Madrid’s final realistic hopes of winning a
major trophy this season disappeared and
Juventus progressed to their eighth
European Cup final.
There will be ramifications to losing for Real
Madrid where president Florentino Pérez has
spent close to £1 billion on players over the
last six years and has one league title and
one Champions League trophy to show for
it. Carlo Ancelotti, Iker Casillas, Gareth Bale
and possibly Cristiano Ronaldo could all
leave the Bernabéu this summer.
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