Super-sub Sturaro Juventus�s saviour

AFP, TURIN (ITALY): Super-sub Stefano Sturaro came off the bench to hit a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich as outclassed Juventus rescued their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.
Bayern dominated throughout a one-sided encounter at a packed Juventus Stadium and took a 43rd-minute lead through Thomas Mueller.
Arjen Robben doubled the Germans’ advantage on 55 minutes but the 2013 champions paid for a series of earlier misses when Paulo Dybala netted on the hour and Sturaro hit a dramatic leveller 14 minutes from time.
It leaves the tie still very much alive, although on this performance Pep Guardiola’s men will be favourites to secure their last-eight place after the second leg in three weeks’ time.
Guardiola, however, is taking nothing for granted.
“Juventus made it to last year’s final, not us. We’re not dealing with a team from the provinces,” said the Spaniard, who admitted he was highly impressed with Bayern’s display.
Guardiola, who will take over at Manchester City in the summer, added: “I’m really happy with how we played. It’s one of the matches from my career that I want to remember the most.”
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri could not say the same, admitting his side had been error-strewn in the opening half.
“In the first half they pushed us hard in our own half and we just couldn’t settle. We started making a lot of mistakes with our passes and didn’t use the space well, but let’s not forget we were playing Bayern,” said the Italian, who steered Juve to last year’s final, where they lost 3-1 to Barcelona.
“After the interval we played a lot better. We might have even snatched the win at the end, but we will need to make sure there’s no repeat of our first half when we go to Munich.”
Injuries to Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber forced Guardiola into naming a makeshift defence with Joshua Kimmich and David Alaba filling in at centre-back.
But Bayern travelled to Turin as the only foreign team to have beaten Juve at home in the past decade, and it was quickly apparent the lack of a solid centre-half pairing would not be felt.

Super-sub Sturaro Juventus�s saviour

AFP, TURIN (ITALY): Super-sub Stefano Sturaro came off the bench to hit a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich as outclassed Juventus rescued their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday. Bayern dominated throughout a one-sided encounter at a packed Juventus Stadium and took a 43rd-minute lead through Thomas Mueller. Arjen Robben doubled the Germans advantage on 55 minutes but the 2013 champions paid for a series of earlier misses when Paulo Dybala netted on the hour and Sturaro hit a dramatic leveller 14 minutes from time. It leaves the tie still very much alive, although on this performance Pep Guardiolas men will be favourites to secure their last-eight place after the second leg in three weeks time. Guardiola, however, is taking nothing for granted. Juventus made it to last years final, not us. Were not dealing with a team from the provinces, said the Spaniard, who admitted he was highly impressed with Bayerns display. Guardiola, who will take over at Manchester City in the summer, added: Im really happy with how we played. Its one of the matches from my career that I want to remember the most. Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri could not say the same, admitting his side had been error-strewn in the opening half. In the first half they pushed us hard in our own half and we just couldnt settle. We started making a lot of mistakes with our passes and didnt use the space well, but lets not forget we were playing Bayern, said the Italian, who steered Juve to last years final, where they lost 3-1 to Barcelona. After the interval we played a lot better. We might have even snatched the win at the end, but we will need to make sure theres no repeat of our first half when we go to Munich. Injuries to Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber forced Guardiola into naming a makeshift defence with Joshua Kimmich and David Alaba filling in at centre-back. But Bayern travelled to Turin as the only foreign team to have beaten Juve at home in the past decade, and it was quickly apparent the lack of a solid centre-half pairing would not be felt.