Juventus assistant manager Angelo Alessio admitted that Chelsea’s decision not to field a traditional striker helped his side cope against the Blues’ attack in their 3-0 thrashing of the defending Champions League winners.
“Tonight we faced a Chelsea side without a reference point in attack and perhaps that helped us tonight,” Alessio said in the post-match interview. “We wanted this type of game, keeping the tempo up, pressuring Chelsea and pinning them back. Of course we were going to allow a few counters, but the team played a fantastic match.”
Juventus dominated large swaths of the match, with Chelsea offering little resistance in the second half. Fabio Quagliarella opened the scoring by deflecting Andrea Pirlo’s long-range effort past Petr Cech in the 38th minute. Arturo Vidal added a second which wrong-footed Cech thanks to a slight deflection off Ramires just after the hour mark. Sebastian Giovinco put the match to bed minutes from full time after Cech raced off his line, allowing the striker to poke the ball into an empty net.
Juventus face an already-qualified Shakhtar on the final matchday with a draw being good enough for the Bianconeri to advance as runners-up in the group. Alessio stated that the team would do their best to secure the necessary points in Ukraine a fortnight from Tuesday.
“We realise how important the final game will be and we’re not qualified yet. We must play the same way we did today.”
Juventus are currently second in the group on nine points, one behind the Ukrainian side.
