Print

Mail

wiki links

Ferrara brings Juventus win against Galatasaray

Veteran defender Ciro Ferrara's 73rd-minute goal gave last season's runner-up Juventus a 2-1 win against Galatasaray of Turkey on Wednesday in the Champions League.

The 36-year-old Ferrara, who was playing in place of the injured Nicola Legrottaglie, appeared to manage a slight deflection of a free kick by Alessandro Del Piero for his fifth goal in European Cup play.

After the match, officials watched replay upon replay of the goal to determine if Ferrara touched the ball or not, and not until nearly an hour after the match did UEFA officially award the goal to Ferrara.

Del Piero and Hakan Sukur traded first-half scores in the two clubs' opening Group D match.

The win put "La Juve" atop the group standings with three points, along with Spain's Real Sociedad, which beat Olympiakos of Greece 1-0 in the other Group D match Wednesday.

Juventus, which lost on penalties to Italian rival AC Milan in last season's final, went ahead on Del Piero's fifth-minute goal. Juve's captain took a pass from behind by fellow national team member Mauro Camoranesi and beat outstretched Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, who could only get a weak hand on the ball.

Galatasaray drew even in the 19th on a header by Turkey's World Cup star Sukur off a corner kick. The lanky striker, back in Turkey after spells with Inter Milan and Blackburn Rovers, came into the play unmarked and deflected the corner by Brazilian defender Cesar Prates off goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon's thigh and into the back of the goal.

"We suffered a bit tonight," Juventus coach Marcello Lippi said. "That early goal may have tricked us into thinking it would be an easy match.

"Luckily we were able to win. It's so important to start off well."

Del Piero hit the crossbar for Juve on a dipping free kick over a Galatasaray wall in the 66th and second-half substitute Marco Di Vaio nearly made it 3-1 on a close-range header in the 90th.

Juve, which had five shots on goal to just one for Galatasaray in the first half, had several early scoring opportunities.

In the 13th, French striker David Trezeguet's diagonal shot nearly tucked in by the far post under the diving Mondragon. Trezeguet, who was a questionable starter due to an injured right leg, also missed the mark a minute later on a set-up from Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved.

In the 34th, Trezeguet's attempt off a Del Piero corner kick was cleared at the line by Brazilian midfielder Joao Battista. Del Piero's 44th-minute header went just over the bar.

Galatasaray, the 2000 UEFA Cup and European Super Cup champion, entered the match in an angry state after a lackluster 1-0 loss to Konyaspor on Saturday in the Turkish league.

The loss meant that still no Turkish club has ever won a match in Italy.

The best second-half chance for coach Fatih Terim's club was a long, low shot by Hasan Sas in the 55th that was 5m wide of the goal.

Large parts of the stands at Turin's Stadio delle Alpi were empty for the match.

Juve visits Olympiakos and Galatasaray hosts Sociedad in the next group-phase matches on Sept. 30. The two clubs meet again in Istanbul on Nov. 25 in the penultimate round of group-phase play.

Juve's more immediate worry is its match against AS Roma on Sunday night in the first big clash of the Italian league season.
This story has been viewed 1806 times.