UEFA Champions League game 3
Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo scored one goal to beat Manchester United 1-0 for the first match of the Champions League.
The Italians champions can book knockout round berth with a win at home against Man U. For his return Ronaldo was cheered by the fans but the game was relatively closed as you expect with Juventus defending strong their slim advantage.
Mourinho on the defeat and pressure to advance to the next round:
I think Juventus are this kind of team that, when they are in front, it’s very, very difficult to concede a goal. Things were not coming [off], but everybody tried, everybody was strong, everybody was strong mentally to try until the end. Juventus felt it and, instead of the control they had in the first half, in the second half they defended and they ended the game with an extra central defender.
A team with everything – they have talent everywhere, all over the pitch. So it was a really difficult match for us. I thought before the game, and during the game, I thought that we could take something out of this game, but it was not possible. We didn’t manage to score but I’m happy with the players.
Juventus is champion for seven years, you know. Two Champions League finals in the last four or five years and they are not happy with what they have. They go for the best players in the world.
A big club with a big past but a big desire also to have a big future. Everything they put there to try to win, I don’t say the Champions League, I say to win the Treble. That’s what they want as normally they win at home. The Treble for now, is not theirs yet, it is ours. But I think they are really close to it.
We have four points, three matches to go. In every match we can get points like today – we could get one. But I believe this is going to the last match in Valencia which is a normal situation when the group has a super team like Juventus and two good teams like us and Valencia.
Juventus coach, Allegri, on the job done:
“We played well especially in the first half, when we managed to slow the tempo down and break forward at pace.
In the second half we created some decent openings but our final ball was off. That’s something we need to work on but the lads still deserve credit tonight.
Our wide players showed great movement and made it hard for the opposition to keep tabs on them. We’ve grown in confidence – that was already clear in Valencia. Tonight we read the game well and slowed it down when we needed to.”
