Juventus vs. Malmo: Score, Grades and Post-Match Reaction
Carlos Tevez broke his five-year Champions League goal drought and added a second for good measure, as Juventus overcame a strong Malmo squad on Tuesday, recording a 2-0 win at the Juventus Arena.
Juventus' first half resembled last year's Champions League debacle in many ways, as the hosts failed to break down a resilient Malmo defence. Patrice Evra was lively but ineffective on the left wing, and Kwadwo Asamoah looked rusty in a more central role.
Asamoah and Tevez had a handful of small chances early, but the best chance was for the Swedish visitors, as a high cross fell to Magnus Eriksson. Gianluigi Buffon rushed off his line and made an excellent save with his right foot, saving his defenders from embarrassment.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Those defenders did an excellent job, however, as both Martin Caceres and Giorgio Chiellini easily handled the Malmo attackers.
Stephan Lichtsteiner should have scored just before half-time, as he came one-on-one with Robin Olsen. The Swiss full-back inexplicably tried to pass the ball to Asamoah instead of finish himself, and the ball harmlessly trickled over the back line.
The Bianconeri tried to push the pace early in the second half, but chances remained hard to come by. Malmo's in-from striker Markus Rosenberg was forced to leave the pitch in the 53rd minute, and the visitors dug back even further without him.
Tevez hadn't scored in the Champions League in five years, but he finally broke that streak on the hour mark. The Argentine fired a hard ball into the box and followed the pass, pouncing on Asamoah's delightful back-heel and finishing neatly in the bottom corner.
The club's Twitter feed was impressed with the quality:
The Bianconeri now pressed for a second, and Lichtsteiner came close when he nearly connected with a cross from Evra. Paul Pogba tried another shot from distance, but Olsen produced a fine save to push it over the bar.
Pogba came close to doubling the lead with 15 minutes left to play, as he just couldn't poke home a sharp cross from Evra. Fernando Llorente really should have scored in the 80th minute, but the Spaniard again found Olsen on his path.
It was Tevez who would give the hosts the two-goal cushion with a perfect free-kick from the edge of the box, curling it past Olsen, who appeared to have taken position too far to one side of his wall.
The Guardian's Paulo Bandini wasn't surprised:
Malmo had pressed for an equaliser up until that point, but Tevez's second took the sting out of the match as both teams were happy to just pass the ball around until the final whistle.
Grades
Kwadwo Asamoah: B+
The Ghanaian played almost exclusively as a left winger under Antonio Conte, but he's a central midfielder by trade and he showed it on Tuesday.
Filling in for Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal, Asamoah was active from the opening whistle. He took perhaps one or two shots on goal too many, but his distribution was solid and he kept pushing his team-mates forward. His back-heel for Tevez was a moment of brilliance, and his performance on the night was deserving of more minutes.
Giorgio Chiellini: A
The big Italian played his first minutes of the season against Malmo, but his performance on the night showed no such thing. Secure, aggressive and dominant, he remains one of the best defenders in all of football.
Markus Rosenberg: B
It's telling Juventus scored just minutes after Rosenberg left the pitch. The Swedish forward was phenomenal tracking back and pressing the midfielders, and his threat kept the Juventus backs from contributing too much in the attacking third.
The 31-year-old has been in sensational form so far, and he will be Malmo's best chance at poaching points in the 2014-15 Champions League.
Post-Match Reaction
One would imagine Tevez would have been ecstatic with finally breaking his Champions League goal drought, but the striker told Sky Sport Italia (h/t to Football-Italia), he "did not miss it":
"I truly did not miss it.
It is an honour to play with this jersey and we play every game as if it were our last.
I am getting into deeper positions, but that is also a problem as I cannot reach the goal. I need to improve on that. We knew it would be a difficult group. Some journalists like to think it’s easy, but we know from last year that nothing is easy.
"
Juventus struggled for most of the night, but Massimiliano's squad came through when it needed to most. Olympiacos' surprise win over Atletico Madrid means the Bianconeri are suddenly in the driver's seat in Group A, and a solid result in the Spanish capital in October would all but guarantee a ticket to the next round of this year's Champions League.
