Juventus 3-0 Chelsea - A clash of class

TURIN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 20: Eden Hazard of Chelsea shoots at goal during the UEFA Champions League Group E match between Juventus and Chelsea at the Juventus Arena on November 20, 2012 in Turin, Italy.

So the Old Lady sang the Blues when Chelsea met Juventus last night. A crucial game to say the least, and both would’ve loved to take maximum points. If there was ever a game that oozed class, technique and aggression, this had to be it.

Juventus denied Chelsea a win, beating them three-nil. Let’s begin with how the game went in favour of Juve before we go on to dissect the inner feelings of Chelsea fans.

While Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo stated to the press that the blame was his, Juve caretaker manager Angelo Alessio proudly said:

“We were unpredictable tonight, that is the one reason we beat Chelsea tonight.”

Amusingly, it was Di Matteo’s plan to make his team seem unpredictable by making the midfielders, Eden Hazard, Oscar and Juan Mata, keep shuffling their positions. Besides, the other questionable strategy many of us would ponder over could be Matteo’s reasons for keeping Torres in the stands till the second half.

Nevertheless, by the time Torres was sent on the field, Juventus was leading with two goals, and by the time he could warm up to the game, Sebastian Giovinco, on as a substitute for, scored the last goal in the 91^st minute. Eight minutes ahead of the first quarter, Fabio Quagliarella fired past Petr Cech for Juve and on the hour Vidal scored the second.

Let’s discuss the men between the sticks, which is probably the easiest. Petr Cech and Gianluigi Buffon are world-class, and comparing them would be a cardinal sin. Absolutely phenomenal in their positioning and reflexes, neither lets anything get away without a fight. However, Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon did well to deny Eden Hazard and Juan Mata are that cost the Blues more than they thought it would.

The victory was not unexpected for Juventus because every time the ball was at the strikers end, it seemed they would score, though that was only after half–time, around the time that Cahill tried to hold back Vucinic from scoring, but revenge was taken later on in the game when Vidal scored for he was only able to do so, thanks to Vucinic’s clever cutback from the position he was at.

After winning the Champions League last year, the only thoughts crowding the minds of Chelsea fans would be whether the team has planned to let go of the opportunity at hand. Besides, it is not enough if Chelsea is able to dig up lost pride with a victory over Nordsjaelland, because it would be of no use if Shakhtar don’t do the same to Juventus.