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Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Galatasaray 1-0 Juventus: Sneijder sends Mancini's men into the knockouts
The Dutchman latched on to Didier
Drogba's flick to fire low past Gianluigi
Buffon in the closing minutes as Roberto
Mancini's side battled past the Bianconeri
in treacherous conditions in Istanbul.
The fixture was halted after 31 minutes on
Tuesday due to freak snow storms, with
play resuming on Wednesday afternoon.
On a heavy, muddy pitch, both sides were
largely limited to direct passages of play
when the game restarted, with Juventus
coach Antonio Conte appearing very
unhappy with the match officials at the
break, presumably due to the condition of
the playing surface.
Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez had
both been recalled to a Juve side missing
injured forward Mirko Vucinic (knee), while
Sneijder made his first start since
November 1 for Galatasaray after shaking
off a recurring thigh problem.
The visitors had carved out the only clear-
cut chance prior to Tuesday's suspension in
play, Llorente going close after good work
from Arturo Vidal, but it was Galatasaray
who started stronger when play got back
under way in Turkey.
Drogba and Sneijder both probed well for
the hosts, without threatening the goal,
before Llorente and Tevez linked
impressively, only for the former to lose his
footing as both sides struggled with the
conditions.
Referee Pedro Proenca drew the half to a
close after 14 minutes of play, and it was
Juve who attacked first following the
interval as Leonardo Bonucci fired over
with an effort from distance early in the
second period.
Drogba did well to shield the ball in an
advanced position at the other end,
allowing Sneijder to fire wide, with the
Ivorian then forcing a smart right-handed
save from Gianluigi Buffon following a
vicous effort.
Claudio Marchisio saw an attempt on goal
saved after a rare flowing move down the
left in the 79th minute before Juve's
defence, which boasts seven consecutive
clean sheets in serie A, was finally
breached with five minutes left.
Drogba headed a long ball into Sneijder 's
path, with the Netherlands international
cooly firing past Buffon.
The hosts almost made it 2-0 late on but
Burak Yilmaz was denied by a goalline
intervention from Giorgio Chiellini, with the
final whistle prompting joyous scenes a
matter of seconds later.
Galatasaray's three points moves them into
second behind Real Madrid and into the
last 16 draw, with two-time winners
Juventus now in the Europa League.
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