Juventus cruise, Ibra red card could cost PSG dear

The huge investment made in players by PSG's Qatari owners was paying handsome dividends until a catastrophic final few minutes which saw them concede a goal and then have star Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic rather harshly sent off.

The volatile Swede will now miss next month's second leg as a result.

It could therefore fall upon the shoulders of their latest high-profile signing, David Beckham — who was watching from the stands — to produce some of his old inspiration to see them into the last eight.

Things were much more straightforward for Juventus in Glasgow, however.

They silenced the raucous home crowd within three minutes as a mistake by Nigerian defender Efe Ambrose — perhaps still feeling the effects of his country's Africa Cup of Nations triumph on Sunday — let in Alessandro Matri for the opening goal

Further goals late in the second half from Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic ensured there was no repeat of the famous home win over Barcelona in the group stage.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon was not happy with the referee, but accepted that his decision to play Ambrose had backfired.

“The scoreline flatters Juventus,” he said.

“For 70-odd minutes we were by far the better side but you can't give away sloppy goals.

“We took a gamble on Efe Ambrose but he was poor for the first goal and he missed a great chance to equalise. We switched off for the second and third goals.”

Juventus coach Antonio Conte was delighted with how his side handled a hostile crowd.

“It was a difficult match and in this atmosphere with Celtic playing with the intensity they did we could have lost the match,” he said.

“But my players kept their heads and showed great maturity and overall it was an excellent result for us.”

PSG looked to be cruising as first-half goals from Argentinian duo Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore gave them a comfortable lead until the mad last two minutes where Valencia's French centre-back Adil Rami scored and Ibrahimovic saw red.

PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti — who will also be without the increasingly influential young Italian midfielder Marco Verratti for the second leg due to suspension — was not happy with the sending-off decision.

“I don't understand the decision,” said the Italian.

SHARE CLOSE
Blogger		Google+
Live Journal		Plurk
Stumble Upon

Tweet

	PREVIOUS ARTICLE
	Hurricanes blow away Devils' 5-game winning streak

NEXT ARTICLE
Nadal teams up with Nalbandian to post 3-set doubles win in Brazil

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email

Submit