UEFA Champions League
Semifinal, second leg
Tuesday 9 May 2017
Juventus Stadium, Turin
Juventus (2) 2 (Mandzukic 33’, Alves 44’)
Monaco (0) 1 (Mbappe 69’)
Juventus won 4-1 on aggregate
Juventus have booked their place in the final of the UEFA Champions League after defeating Monaco 2-1 (4-1 on aggregate) in Turin on Tuesday night.
[caption id="attachment_737" align="alignnone" width="594"] Juventus Defender from Brazil Dani Alves eyes the ball during the UEFA Champions League semi final second leg[/caption]
The Italian heavyweights had done most of the hard work in the first leg last week when they claimed a 2-0 away win in the first leg, and they had the tie wrapped up by half-time of this match thanks to goals from Mario Mandzukic and Dani Alves.
The Brazilian wingback was the architect of Juve’s dominance, providing an assist for Mandzukic’s opening goal just past the half-hour mark, before crashing home a brilliant volley a couple of minutes before the interval.
The Old Lady should have been more than 2-0 up given the number of chances they created, but Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic had a terrific first-half in which he made several key saves.
[caption id="attachment_738" align="alignnone" width="594"] Juventus' goalkeeper from Italy Gianluigi Buffon (R) consoles Monaco's French forward Kylian Mbappe after Juventus won the UEFA Champions League semi final[/caption]
Monaco improved after the break and finally found a way past Juve’s seemingly impenetrable defence through Kylian Mbappe, who will surely fetch a massive fee from one of Europe’s giants in the summer transfer market.
It’s on to the final for Max Allegri and his Juve team, who will look to claim their first Champions League trophy since 1996 and a third overall. Their likely opponents for the final at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 3 June? Real Madrid, who take a 3-0 lead into tonight’s return match against cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid.