Carlos Tevez bagged his first Champions League goals since 2009 as Juventus got their campaign off and running with a 2-0 victory over Swedish champions Malmo at the Juventus Stadium on Tuesday evening.
The Italian champions were frustrated in the first-half and failed to break the Swedish side down but a superb double from the Argentine striker after half-time ensured their blushes were spared and collected a precious three points.
Juventus started slowly and seriously lacked a cutting edge in the first-half, only managing a series of speculative long-range shots all of which flew high over the crossbar. They appeared to be missing the creative spark of Arturo Vidal and looked lacklustre with the ball in attacking positions and were unable to break down the Swedish champions who stood firm, despite playing in their first ever Champions League match.
Patrice Evra and Stephan Lichsteiner enjoyed plenty of space down both flanks but failed to find Fernando Llorente with a number of attempted crosses as fans grew increasingly unsettled at the Juventus Stadium.
Juventus were nearly embarrassed after 20 minutes after Magnus Eriksson’s close-range drive was denied by Gianluigi Buffon. Markus Rosenberg found the midfielder with a deep cross to the far post but the veteran keeper was there to keep the match 0-0.
Juventus’ best chance in the opening period fell to Lichsteiner after he was played through by Carlos Tevez but opted to try and find Asamoah instead of shoot and the ball trickled wide for a goal-kick. Bearing down on goal, Lichsteiner never looked comfortable with shooting and the opportunity was wasted.
The Swiss wing-back was then played in by Pogba in the second-half and again tried to square the ball, only for Malmo keeper Robin Olsen to intercept. Allegri suddenly exploded with anger on the touchline as his team continued to waste goalscoring opportunities.
However, Allegri’s exasperation was stopped for the time-being just before the hour mark when Tevez combined beautifully with Asamoah before slotting the ball accurately into the bottom corner to five the Turin giants the lead. Tevez drove towards the net, laying it off before receiving a wonderfully crafted back-heel from the Ghanian and striker made no mistake in finding the net for the first time in the Champions League in five years.
Juventus then had the ball in the net again, two minutes later, through Llorente but Lichsteiner was adjudged to be marginally offside as he squared it to the Spaniard. However, after finally finding the breakthrough, Juventus appeared to have a spring in their step as they searched for a second to kill the game off.
Lichsteiner had another opportunity to, to double the scoring, but after doing well to latch onto Evra’s deflected cross he could only head down into the ground and over the bar.
The Serie A champions continued to press for a second and nearly found it after Evra’s cross came within inches of reaching both Llorente and the late arriving Pogba. It was a tantalising delivery from the Frenchman but his compatriot was unable to get on the end of it and wrap up the game.
Llorente then failed to convert a golden opportunity from close range after Lichsteiner’s chipped cross, only finding the glove of Olsen and he did not manage to find Tevez with the follow-up as the keeper scrambled clear.
But after substitute Alvaro Morata was brought down just outside the penalty area, Tevez added another in the 90th minute with a fantastic free-kick, curled into the top-corner to round-off the win for the home side.
