Kiev (AFP)
No Cristiano, no hitch.
Even without its Portuguese star, Juventus Turin made a successful debut in the Champions League, winning 2-0 at Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday thanks to a brace from Alvaro Morata.
In the absence of Ronaldo, still in quarantine after his positive coronavirus test at the beginning of last week, it is Alvaro Morata, back since this summer at the bianconeri, who found the opening by resuming closely a strike from Dejan Kulusevski repelled by Ukrainian goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan after returning from the locker room.
The Dynamo will have lasted just a period since the men of Mircea Lucescu, who became the oldest coach to lead a Champions League match (75 years and 84 days) according to statistician Gracenote, gave in after less than fifty seconds of play in second period on an action initiated by yet another breakthrough by Federico Chiesa, aligned as a left piston by Andrea Pirlo.
The former playmaker managed his first on the European stage as a coach against Lucescu, who had started him as a player when he was in charge of Brescia in 1995.
Morata avoided a stressful end to the match at the "Maestro" by killing all suspense with a smashed header (84th), served by a surgical center from Chiesa's counterpart on the left, Juan Cuadrado.
Pushed by its audience --15,000 spectators were expected at the Olympic stadium in Kiev - the club in the Ukrainian capital has posed difficulties for the Piedmontese without ever finding the fault.
Despite the early exit on injury of their captain Giorgio Chiellini, affected behind the right thigh and who was forced to give way in defense to Merih Demiral.
Thanks to this inaugural success, the Turinese and their explosive orange jersey take the lead of Group G while waiting for the other confrontation of this group in the wake of Tuesday.
FC Barcelona receives the Hungarians from Ferencvaros (21H).
© 2020 AFP