SAN FRANCISCO, November 24, (THEWILL) – Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus claimed a last-gasp 2-1 win over Ferencvaros as Alvaro Morata’s late header lifted the Italian giants into the Champions League knockout stages.
Initially, It seemed as if Juve would go five points behind Group G leaders Barcelona as they toiled in Turin, with Ferencvaros’ goalkeeper Denes Dibusz making a string of excellent saves.
Dibusz blocked a Paulo Dybala volley with a quarter of an hour gone before Juve went behind four minutes later. Albanian left winger Myrto Uzuni tucked the ball into a gaping goal after Tokmac Nguen had capitalised on Matthijs de Ligt’s mistake at the back.
It did not take long for Juve to hit back. Two minutes after his strike was disallowed for offside, Ronaldo lashed a strike into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the area.
It could have been a brace for Ronaldo early in the second period, but the agile Ferencvaros keeper beat him to a poor backpass.
Dibusz was literally on hand again to pull off another vital stop on the hour, tipping Federico Bernardeschi’s venomous strike onto the upright. Then, an accurately-timed dive at Ronaldo’s feet was what it took to deny the Portuguese goal-machine a tap-in.
Fortune smiled on all the hard work Dibusz had put in and came to his rescue when Morata curled a close-range strike beyond him only for it to strike the post. Another fine stop from Rodrigo Bentancur’s effort seemed to have sealed a point for the Hungarian side.
That did not come to pass as Dibusz failed to correctly handle a Morata header which was directed straight at him. With that goal, Juve clinched their last-16 slot with two games to spare.
Juve’s next game is an away tie at Benevento on Saturday. On the same day, Ferencvaros are up against MTK Budapest.
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