Juventus have overcome Malmo 2-0 at the Swedbank Stadion on Wednesday evening in the UEFA Champions league.
It was Spaniard Fernando Llorente opened the scoring midway through the second half, followed by a mind-bending strike from Carlos Tevez at the death.
Swedish forward Isaac Kiese Thelin had an early opportunity to put the hosts in the lead, however he squandered his attempt across the face of the goal.
Coach Age Hareide’s men played a high pressing opening half and endeavoured to stretch the Italians on the flanks.
While the Bianconeri enjoyed much of the possession, the home side mostly restricted them to coming forward on the counter.
The Old Lady appeared unsettled in their passing, with both squads conceding easy balls and committing poor fouls.
Indeed the stop start nature of the match clearly rattled coach Massimiliano Allegri’s men whose best chance came from midfielder Arturo Vidal, who drilled the ball towards the goal but was saved by goal keeper Robin Olsen.
Midfielder Claudio Marchisio missed another stellar opportunity when the ball was played over the Malmo defence and directly onto his foot, however a poor touch from the Italian saw the ball land in the hands of Olsen.
Despite a few clear cut chances, it was the Swedes who came forward on any given opportunity and fancied their chances against a laboured Bianconeri squad, who once again were struggling away from home.
Their clear intent was contrasted by the Old Lady’s laziness who were lucky not to concede a penalty in the latter stages of the half following a Vidal smother on Markus Halsti.
However the Bianconeri were a different side after the break and began the second period of play with a renewed hunger and vitality.
It took only four minutes of play, for Spaniard Llorente who scored his fourth goal of the season following a well-timed and isolated run past the home side’s defence and the reach of Olsen.
Stephan Lichsteiner continued to make threatening runs down the right and draw in fouls from the opposition.
In fact it was a free kick awarded to the left-back that nearly saw the Old Lady double her lead, after an Andrea Pirlo’s strike narrowly missed the head of Llorente.
Yet it was a different tale for the Swedish side who played within themselves for much of the second term and continually gave the ball away cheaply, allowing the Bianconeri to advance forward in numbers.
The only clear chance of equalising came off the boot of Kofi Adu whose powerful strike was aimed directly into the chest of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
However it was the likes of Marchisio, Llorente and later Alvaro Morata who continued to be in the midst of the action.
Indeed a Morata shot should have made the score line 2-0 yet his shot deflected off the bar.
Yet only moments later, a long direct ball found Tevez, who struck the ball into the bottom left corner of the net past a helpless Olsen.
The match did not end without controversy with a flurry of cards being shown by Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca, including a red card to Erik Johansson.
