Chiellini: I was praying for Reus to miss

Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini was praying for Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus to fail to convert the chance that led to the German outfit’s goal against the Bianconeri on Tuesday night.

The Italian international’s faulty slide tackle allowed Reus to go through on goal and equalise for the Germans having gone 1-0 down, but Juve were able to redeem themselves and emerged victorious by a score of 2-1, thus giving them the advantage heading into the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie.

“The error for the Dortmund goal? It happens, but the problem is that there was only [Gianluigi] Buffon left and he couldn’t do anything,” he told Sky Sport.

“I was praying for Reus to miss but unfortunately he scored, however we reacted well.

“At half-time our mentality didn’t change, we knew that Dortmund are a side that exploit space really well.

“They were dangerous at the start of the second half, but we kept compact and we even created many opportunities.

“We were able to win, but it’s a tight result.”

Juve are set to travel to Germany to face Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park in the second leg of the tie on March 18.