Juventus Rout Leverkusen In Delayed Second-Phase Opener
TURIN, Italy, Nov 29 (AFP) - Italy's Juventus thrashed Bayer Leverkusen of Germany 4-0 here Thursday at the Stadio Delle Alpi to get off to a perfect start in their first second-phase Group D Champions League match.
The match, played at the third time of asking after twice being postponed because of fog, was one-way traffic with Juve romping to a 3-0 interval lead thanks to goals from David Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero and Igor Tudor.
After the break the outstanding Trezeguet added his second to post a personal club tally of 14 goals in all club matches this season.
Juventus coach Marcello Lippi was delighted with the result. "This is a good opening for us and I was pleased with the contribution of the players," he said.
Leverkusen had struggled to find a hotel Wednesday night after UEFA decreed the game be played Thursday and eventually spent the night some 80km away at Saint Vincent in the Alps but Lippi did not believe that was a factor in the result. "I don't think it was a case of one team being more unsettled than the other," he said.
Despite Lippi's view the Germans certainly looked disorientated while Juventus were quickly into their stride and defender Alessandro Birindelli forced an early save from Hans-Jorg Butt.
After eight minutes Trezeguet put the hosts in front after a game of head tennis in the Leverkusen area. A cross by Gianluca Pessotto was headed back across goal by Del Piero and Leverkusen defender Jens Nowotny headed the ball up into the air. The Frenchman was first to react and beat Butt to the ball to head the opener.
Ulf Kirsten and Oliver Neuville both failed to hit the target when well placed for Leverkusen while at the other end Del Piero fired high after losing his marker with a brilliant piece of skill.
Birindelli was cautioned after 24 minutes for a foul on Bayer's Brazilian winger Ze Roberto but after 37 minutes Juve made it 2-0.
A ball from Lilian Thuram caught the German defence square and Trezeguet advanced, drew Butt and slipped the ball sideways to Del Piero who scored.
Del Piero, with Pessotto one of two survivors of the Juve team that won this competition in 1995-6, immediately ran across to thank Trezeguet for setting him up on a plate.
With half-time approaching Juve turned up the heat. Birindelli's centre was perfect for Trezeguet who headed goalwards but Butt denied him, tipping the ball behind for a corner.
But the goal was not long in coming. A Del Piero corner was miscued by Mark Iuliano and looked as if it was going out but Alessio Tacchinardi put it back in the danger zone with an acrobatic overhead kick and Croatian Tudor reacted quickly to fire home from close range.
The second half began in lacklustre fashion with Juve's Pavel Nedved and Leverkusen's Michael Ballack booked in separate incidents but on the hour mark it was 4-0 to the side from Turin.
It was a well-worked goal. Pessotto played in Czech Nedved on the left and his cross was met first time by Trezeguet whose volley found the corner of the net via Butt's fingertips.
Minutes later Trezeguet missed a glorious chance to make it a hat-trick when he miscued wide after good work by Del Piero. The Frenchman was later replaced by Nicola Amoruso.
The Germans were looking a demoralised force and when Neuville hit the side netting it was a rare sortie for Leverkusen.
The game, played in front of a sparse crowd with many fans who would have attended Wednesday night caught up with work commitments, eventually fizzled out.
