Thursday, April 14, 2005

Match Report 050413 at Juventus: Against all odds

0-0 and once again, we surprised everybody, maybe even ourselves, in pulling out a 0-0 draw in Turin. As Gerrard said the players did performed the match of the career, and at theend Juventus just can't a way to score.

Defense was really great and not until 63 minutes did Juventus have a shot on target. Before that Baros had a golden opportunity (assist by Carragher!) but just missed it. And even when the back 4 failed to clear the ball, Dudek was also at his best to save a shot from Ibrahimovic. And when Cannavaro's header seemed unstoppable, lady luck was on our side this time and it hit the post.

It's really nice to see Xabi play the whole 90 minutes and Cisse running again. Now we have more firepower, let's start to be more serious, and grab the 4th place post.

Player Rating:
Dudek: 8 Have an important save to keep the clean sheet. This is Dudek at his best.
Finnan: 7 Solid in defense. Although he conceded a freekick and get a yellow card, fortunately Cannavaro's header from the freekick only hit the post.
Carragher: 8 He gave the Italians a lesson on defending.
Hyypia: 7.5 This time he raised to the challenge of captaining the team. Almost scored himself.
Traore: 7.5 Played more like a center back then a left back as we were playing like a 5-4-1. A solid display despite he had a few moments let us scare.
Nunez: 6 He tried very hard, although not as good as the others, but is still a good performance.
Alonso: 7.5 Run the midfield. It's nice to see him not afraid to go into high-gear tackles. Welcome back.
Biscan: 7 Doing all the dirty jobs. Try very hard to score but Juventus defenses is too strong.
Riise: 7 Played more like a left back most of the time. Very effective in closing down Juventus.
Garcia: 6.5 He tried very hard but was unable to break down the Juventus defense.
Baros: 6.5 He also tried very hard, had one great chance but missed it.

Substitutions:
Smicer: 6 Come on and had a fair game.
Cisse/Le Tallec: Not enough time to shine. It's really good to see Cisse running again after that horrible accident. See you in the Champions League final.

Rafa: 8 His tactics outclassed Capello's.

Juventus: 7 Unable to break through the stubbon Liverpool defense. But they are still a great team.

Men of the Match: Dudek/Carragher. Defense at its best!

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