Juventus Shut Out Barcelona
Lionel
Messi, who had earlier been denied by Gianluigi Buffon, fired wastefully over
the bar while Luis Suarez and Neymar also spurned chances on a night Barca were
restricted to one shot on target.
Juve's
Gonzalo Higuain fired tamely at Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Juan Cuadrado missed
another chance but the final whistle was celebrated wildly by the champions of
Italy, who have not conceded a single goal from open play in this season's
Champions League.
Juventus
join Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Monaco in Friday's last-four draw
The champions of Italy are 180 minutes
away from the final in Cardiff on 3 June after a superb defensive performance
as Barca and their formidable strike force failed to score over two legs.
Juventus
join Manchester United (2007-08) and Bayern Munich (2012-13) as one of only
three teams that have stopped the Catalans scoring in both legs of a Champions
League tie.
They were
as brave and aggressive as they were calm and disciplined with Leonardo Bonucci
and Giorgio Chiellini monumental at the heart of the defence.
When
Barca did manage to carve out chances, Suarez, Messi and Neymar failed to
deliver.
All three
had chances before the interval. In the space of a few minutes, Suarez had a
goal-bound shot blocked, Messi dragged a chance from 12 yards and Neymar
volleyed wide.
It said
everything about Juve's defensive display that Buffon only had one save to
make, the 39-year-old denying Messi before the Barca forward hammered the
rebound into the side-netting
Yet Juve, as adventurous going forward
as they were solid at the back, might have beaten the Spanish champions for the
second time in a week.
Higuain
should have done better from close range after a ball over the top before
Cuadrado flashed a chance narrowly wide on the counter.
In the
end it did not matter, Juve and their travelling fans celebrated a night to
remember.
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