Trezeguet Fires Juve To The Top
TURIN, Italy, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Juventus moved to the top of Champions League group E after a first-half goal from David Trezeguet gave them a 1-0 win over Norway's Rosenborg Trondheim on Wednesday.
The French international headed home in the 25th minute after Alessandro Del Piero had produced some fine skill to make room for a cross from the left.
An impressive Juve dominated throughout, peppering the Rosenborg goal with shots, but Icelandic keeper Arni Arason produced a series of fine saves to keep his side in the game.
Juventus now lead group E with eight points, a point ahead of second-placed Porto, who beat Celtic 3-0.
After a run of five games without a win in Europe and Serie A, the pressure was on Marcello Lippi's side to produce a convincing performance and, despite the narrow victory margin, they showed that talk of a crisis in Turin was certainly premature.
With Czech international Pavel Nedved, who missed the opening three Champions League games through suspension, back on the left flank, and Dutchman Edgar Davids restored to the centre of midfield, Juve dictated from the outset.
Nedved forced the first save out of Arason in the sixth minute with a fierce shot after neat work from Del Piero.
The former Lazio midfielder went close again with a stinging free kick that Arasan opted to punch out.
Then the breakthrough came with Del Piero jinking around the Norwegian penalty area before whipping over a cross which Trezeguet converted with a diving header.
Trezeguet hit the post two minutes later as he slid on a low cross from the right by Gianluca Zambrotta, and in the 31st minute Juve had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down by English referee Graham Poll after Del Piero appeared to be obstructed by Christer Basma.
The pressure continued right up until the break when Del Piero showed neat footwork again before putting in Trezeguet, who slotted the ball home, only for Poll to rule the Frenchman had received the ball in an offside position.
There was no change to the pattern of the game after the break, with Juve continuing to push forward in search of a second goal.
Del Piero went close twice with a header tipped over by Arason and then a free kick which was headed off the line by Erik Hoftun.
In the 70th minute Rosenborg had their first real effort on goal when Sigurd Rushfeldt saw a header tipped over by Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Arason came to the rescue again in the 71st minute as he blocked a Del Piero shot at close range and then the Rosenborg keeper produced his finest save to tip a Trezeguet drive wide.
Yet while Juve could have been looking at a comfortable victory, Rosenborg came close to an equaliser in the 84th minute with a shot from Roar Strand pushed wide by Buffon.
That would have been rough justice for the Turin side, who must now be confident of going through to the second group phase.
