Juventus V Chelsea

The importance of this match could not be underestimated, not only did Juventus have to secure a victory to insure any hopes of qualification, but it also will shut the English media up, because every time they mention Juve, they never forget to mention that  they've never beaten a club from London. It was hilarious to hear their excuses at the end and the silence that followed.

It was a fast paced match with both sides having good opportunities in the first half, but what I found troubling was this growing animosity between Lichtsteiner and Quagliarella and Vucinic and Quagliarella. That is something that is rather troubling, I think maybe Fabio's hat trick in the league has given him a big head because sometimes when he had the ball and instead of passing to a team mate who was in a better position, he would go for goal- and miss, but not only that, Chelsea would then get possession and can start their counter attack.

One of the main difference between English and Italian teams, English teams have a lot of pace and with players like Juan Mata, Edin Hazard and Oscar they did cause the back three of Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzargli some problem, and who knows, on a better day they might have put away the shots they did have on goal. After the second goal and when the game was nearing the end, it was visible and understandable that there were some tired legs out there, but what wasn't acceptable was thinking that it was done and dusted, thank God they had Gigi Buffon to snap them out of it as he was seen on a number of occasions trying to communicate the urgency to his team mates.

One of the most inspired changes that they made late on was when the brought in Sebastion Giovinco, his pace and energy disturbed Chelsea and he added to their pain by scoring the third goal. Last weekend Giovinco was jeered by the "fans" but now he has become their hero, as his goal made Juventus' victory secure.

Juve must keep in mind that this victory gives them hope,but it's not over yet, they still have to face Shakhtar which is no easy feat. Juventus still have a lot of work to do given that they had 25 shots but only 13 were goal bound and the fact that the only scored 3 goals out of so many chances, something they must work on especially if they are determined to win the last game of the group. For the game against the Ukranians they will be with the hardworking Claudio Marchisio who took a yellow card for the team meaning that he'll miss the next game.

The Juventus midfield of Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Claudio are like a well oiled machine, so many of last seasons goals came from the middle of the park. Near the end of the game after all of the subs were on you could see Chiellini hobbling on the side lines, that is a slight worry especially since Juve have a big league game coming up- the big match against AC Milan.