Late Conte Goal Saves Juventus
ATHENS, March 17 (Reuters) - Juventus scraped into the European Cup semifinals on Wednesday with an 85th minute goal from Antonio Conte that earned a priceless 1-1 draw against Olympiakos Piraeus in the Olympic stadium.
The result meant that Juventus, last year's losing finalists, went through 3-2 on aggregate after winning the quarter-final first leg 2-1.
The Greek side, bidding to make the last four for the first time, led through a 12th minute goal from Sinica Gogic. But to the bitter disappointment of the 70,000 crowd, Conte equalised in the 85th minute leaving Juventus on course for a fourth successive European Cup final.
Gogic lifted Greek hopes early on with a header from a perfect cross by Grigoris Georgatos and Juventus struggled to keep in the match at times. But a mix-up in the Greek box five minutes from time gave Conte a chance and he scored the all-important goal from seven metres.
Seven yellow cards, including five for Juventus, were shown in a game which produced 55 fouls.
Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti said: "We suffered from the pressure they put on especially in the first half but we managed the goal and it was enough. They were very dangerous throughout."
Olympiakos coach Dusan Bayevic said: "We leave this competition with our heads up. We deserved victory tonight but in soccer you must also be lucky and today we were unlucky."
Goalscorer Gocic said: "I am very disappointed. We were much the better team tonight and proved we can play Juventus on an equal basis."
