Steely Juventus shut down Barcelona to kill off comeback hopes
Barcelona's hopes of staging another sensational Champions League comeback fell flat against a hardened Juventus side who held the Catalans to a 0-0 draw on Wednesday at the Nou Camp to reach the semi-finals 3-0 on aggregate.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-04-19 22:00 GMT
Madrid
The Italian champions barely gave Barcelona a glimmer of hope of repeating their historic turnaround against Paris St Germain in the last 16 and protected their healthy advantage from the first leg by starving the hosts of space and clear sights of goal.
Lionel Messi came closest to giving Barcelona a route back into the contest with four strikes at goal but failed to hit the target with any of them and frequently came up short against Juve's intimidating centre-back pairing of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci.
Twice European champions Juve lacked the spark and power of their thrilling first-leg victory in Turin, but there was rarely any doubt they would exact revenge for their defeat to Barcelona in the 2015 Champions League final by reaching the semis for a 12th time.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique had said before the game that if Barcelona managed to strike early then the noise of the Nou Camp would suck the other goals in.
Juventus, however, showed in the opening stages that they are made of sterner stuff than PSG, who gave up a 4-0 first-leg advantage
Massimiliano Allegri’s side pressed Barcelona in their own half and limited the supply to the front three.
Messi almost managed to pick out Jordi Alba with a hooked pass and later played a one-two with the Spaniard before dragging narrowly wide of the far post.
Ivan Rakitic and Neymar also missed the target with hopeful efforts but Juventus' aggressive gameplan limited how much attacking Barcelona could do without leaving themselves exposed.
Gonzalo Higuain cracked a shot over the bar before the break while the probing Juan Cuadrado almost picked out the Argentine striker in the middle, but was thwarted by a brilliant block from Gerard Pique.
Barcelona increased their grip on possession after the break and spent most of the remainder of the game in their opponents' half trying to carve out chances, but Juve were always ready for them.
Messi whipped a free kick onto the roof of the net and slammed another shot wide before spurning his best chance, a volley which fizzed over the bar.
Barcelona right back Sergi Roberto attempted a repeat of his heroic strike against PSG, but also missed the target, unable to prevent his side's second successive elimination at the quarter-final stage, which will provoke much soul-searching at the five-times European champions.
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