toptop
Chelsea
are on the brink of an early UEFA Champions League exit after losing 3-0 at
Juventus on Tuesday evening.
Fabio Quagliarella diverted Andrea Pirlo's weak shot past the wrong-footed
Petr Cech to give the home side the lead just before the interval.
Arturo Vidal added to the lead just after the hour mark when his side-footed
effort from Kwadwo Asamoah's cut-back was deflected past Cech off the heel
of Ramires.
And substitute Sebastian Giovinco put the gloss on the display as he slotted
the ball past the advancing Chelsea goalkeeper in injury time.
Chelsea must now beat Nordsjaelland in their final Group E game - and hope
Shakhtar Donetsk beat Juve in Ukraine - to have any chance of retaining
their European crown.
And Roberto Di Matteo may regret fielding a new-look line-up with Fernando
Torres axed in favour of Eden Hazard up front and Cesar Azpilicueta playing
on the right of midfield.
Juventus had dominated the game before the break with wing-backs Stephan
Lichtsteiner and Asamoah pushing forward at every opportunity.
Lichtsteiner should have opened the scoring inside five minutes but Cech
managed to push his close-range effort onto the post. At the other end,
Hazard nearly found the breakthrough only for Gianluigi Buffon to deflect
his shot just wide.
But the home side were producing the classier football and it was no
surprise when they took the lead through Quagliarella. In fact, they nearly
doubled their advantage soon after.
Minutes after the opener, Ashley Cole had to clear off the line to avoid the
Blues going two behind.
But Di Matteo's side remained an intermittent goal threat and broke within
seconds only for Juan Mata to see Buffon block his volleyed effort at
point-blank range.
The Chelsea boss did introduce Torres with 20 minutes remaining but the
visitors were two down by that point following Vidal's effort, and
Giovinco's late finish puts the Blues on the verge of a Champions League
exit.
Subs Not Used Giaccherini, Matri, Pepe, Storari
Booked Bonucci, Marchisio
Goals Quagliarella 38, Vidal 61, Giovinco 90
Chelsea Cech, Azpilicueta (Moses 60), Luiz, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cole, Ramires,
Mikel (Torres 71), Hazard, Mata, Oscar
Subs Not Used Turnbull, Romeu, Marin, Bertrand, Piazon
Booked Ramires
Goals
Attendance 40,000
Referee C. Cakir (Turkey)