LiveBlog CL Second Leg: Artmedia v. Juventus

By: roberto | August 26th, 2008

GAME ON!
Ranieri’s called up 22 players for this one: 1 Buffon 4 Mellberg 7 Salihamidzic 8 Amauri 9 Iaquinta 10 Del Piero 11 Nedved 12 Chimenti 13 Manninger 15 Knezevic 16 Camoranesi 17 Trezeguet 18 Poulsen 19 Marchisio 20 Giovinco 21 Grygera 22 Sissoko 27 Ekdal 28 Molinaro 29 De Ceglie 33 Legrottaglie 41 Ariaudo.

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Alright, Marchisio gets the nod in the middle of the park with Poulsen. Nedved flanking on the left, with Camoranesi (God please keep him healthy) on the right. Amauri and Iaquinta up top.

1′ Fuck Amauri almost headed in a quick cross from Camoranesi on the right! Amauri is incredible at getting in the right position for crosses.

3′ Jesus Camronesi looks great as he sets up for a free kick… Nothing comes of it, but we ‘re looking very intent on scoring tonight with a couple good efforts in Artmedia’s 18 yard box.

4′ Ouch Mellberg is lucky he didn’t get a card as he misses the ball on the ensuing counter-attack. I really want to see Marchisio in good form tonight. It should be interesting to see him work with Pavel.

7′ Mellberg’s getting some action his way early in this one. Grygera came in nicely to help him clear some garbage in our final third.

8′ Great tackle on Iaquinta by Artmedia’s defenceman. Sorry I’m not gonna try one bit to figure out there names.

9′ Here’s another free-kick from Camoranesi in almost the exact same position and OH MY! Legro just misses the net with his header! Jesus that was close. Nicola is becoming quite the threat in the box.

11′ Fuck!!!!!! Artmedia score a fucking beauty. It’s probably going to be the goal of the tournament. Where was Grygera? Dammit I’m pissed, but there was nothing Buffon could do.

14′ Wow Amauri hits the post with his header!!! What great power this guy has in the air, ground, water… fuck this guy’s a tank!

16′ Oh my God what a gritty game this is turning into. Scrappy as shit. Our boys are giving it all we got right now as Iaquinta and Amauri are really fighting for every ball out there. We’ll get one in no time at this rate. But if Artmedia break us again with another goal we are fucked- mentally that is.

19′ Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured. Please don’t get injured.

21′ Dammit we’re doing these long-balls again.

22′ We’re all over the place right now. Players are out of position all over the field. I’m pretty sure Ranieri is fucking furious. Grygera does well on the left to get by his man and swing in a cross but it’s met by Nedved who tries to pass it in the middle, but it’s cut out by their defence.

24′ GOOOALLLL!!!!!!! AMAURI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, just like I thought he nods in a beauty of cross just under the bar with a great header! Great run by Nedved on the left and an even better cross into the middle. It was just a matter of time before Artmedia’s CB lost a foot on number eight.

27′ Juventus is back in the driving seat now as they play the ball nicely across the width of the field waiting for the home team to slip-up.

29′ Ohhh shit Amauri should have had his second of the night as Marchisio’s low cross makes it by everyone in Artmedia’s box and surprised the Braziltalian.

33′ I really like Iaquinta and Amauri up front together. Both are great target men, and when we play our inevitable stupid style of long balls, we can actually make something of it.

34′ Nice work on the left side of the field with Nedved, Poulsen, and Molinaro. It’s hard to tell but it looks like Marchisio and Poulsen have switched sides.

36′ Nice through-ball from Artmedia but Mellberg was quick to close at the top of our box to ensure the player had no angle on net.

38′ In comes a free-kick from Nedved on the left, but the defence clears it out and concedes a corner. Nothing comes of it though. Juve’s playing well right now and are probably surprising a few out there with the amount of intensity they have going into this one.

41′ Molinaro is one lucky bastard. He gets burned, then he hustles back to almost concede a penalty-kick. Bring on De Ceglie! Artmedia have a free-kick as Camoranesi gets the game’s first yellow. Oh nice set-piece from the home team. I betcha they worked on that one.

45′ The ref blows the whistle without any injury-time for the end of the first half. What a frantic 45 this was. My wrists are on fire.

SECOND HALF

1′ Juventus look pretty calm starting this half. Their slow build lands them a corner-kick. This is what you want to see as a coach. The corner leads to nothing but Juventus continue to press for more as Marchisio’s low shot tests Artmedia’s keeper.

4′ Nice work from Poulsen to ride that ball out of bounds.

5′ Foul on Iaquinta as Artmedia’s player gets the game’s second yellow. AMAURI!!! He almost gets his second goal of the game with another great effort in the air off of Camoranesi’s free-kick cross.

8′ Some dirty dribbling from Artmedia now as they string together some nice pressure in our final third.

10′ Come on boys let’s not get to carried away with these crosses into the middle. How about some work up the middle?

11′ Nice counter-attack from Artmedia as they manage to get a head on their cross but sail it wide of Buffon.

14′ Corner for Juve, but Nedved skies this one to the top of the box. Oh shit, Nedved is rewarded with a rebound inside Artmedia’s box but the Czech does too well to send it wide to the opposite post. You just know Seedorf would have scored there.

18′ In almost an identical attempt from Iaquinta to bring down an overhead pass last round, Vincenzo just didn’t get enough foot on a searching ball on the verge of Artmedia’s 18 yard box.

22′ What the fuck, Artmedia have a Brazilian?

24′ Here comes Sissoko! Ranieri must have thought our midfield presence was getting too thin defensively.

25′ In comes Giovinco too as Camoranesi and Nedved are giving a well deserved rest.

27′ LOL Nice try Legro.

29′ Poulsen and Sissoko side-by-side again. Let the whistles begin to blow. Poulsen does well to hold up the play as he halts Artmedia’s efforts at a counter-attack.

30′ Juventus get the ball back and start applying some pressure in the home team’s final third.

31′ Mellberg did well to cut out a searching pass down the middle of Juventus’ half. Artmedia continue to press though and are enjoying some space and time with the ball. That is of course until Sissoko shows up!

34′ Great hustle from Amauri there. The striker comes all the way back in our half to defend, and wins a goal-kick for his side. Amauri’s making a fan of him out of me with his hard work tonight.

37′ The youngster Ariaudo comes in for Legro. Nicola has played really hard for us in the last couple of weeks or so. He deserves a rest. This kid though has got what it takes to fill his shoes I’m sure.

38′ Great long-ball from Momo along the right wing for Grygera. Unfortunately his cross was too long and too high for it to cause some damage. Nice run though Grygera.

41′ Sissoko has really taken-over our midfield. Who knew he was such a great passer?

43′ Oh boy! We dodged a bullet there. Artmedia caught our defence sleeping with a nice little turn on the edge of the box, but thankfully someone back there was able to deflect that shot wide.

46′ Ahhh dammit, Iaquinta would have had one there if he had tipped Marchisio’s low cross harder on net. He was offside so it doesn’t matter.

Ranieri after the match: “We got the result that we needed and I’m happy with it. We are looking forward to Fiorentina this weekend”. The question of why Nedved had kicked the bench on his way off of the field was raised, to which Ranieri responded “I’m not sure if it was about him missing that shot he had. Perhaps it was because he didn’t want to come off”. God I love Pavel.

MOTM: Hands down this was Amauri’s game. The man is a machine. He’s got incredible power, he’s extremely atheletic, and just as talented. You got to think he relishes gritty games like these after a performance like this one. Bravo Amauri and Bravo Juventus!

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