Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MESSI MASTER AS BARCA OUS CLASS
OUSMANE DEMBELE netted a deflected winner to ease the pressure on Barcelona – and demonstrate he has the talent to be a future superstar.
Cristiano Ronaldo (right, sporting a new haircut) was s absent at the Allianz
Stadium after failing a third Covid-19 test on
Tuesday.
But Lionel Messi was pretty in pink as he produced a sublime crossfield pass to set up the Frenchman for the opener after 14 minutes.
Juventus had Merih Demiral sent off after 85 minutes for a second yellow card.
And they were polished off five minutes later when Messi the master smashed in a penalty.
Dembele’s goal had a big slice of luck as his shot came off Federico
Chiesa before looping over Wojciech Szczesny into the top corner of the net.
But Ronald Koeman’s side were worthy of the win with their best performance since the former Southampton and Everton boss took over in the summer.
The Catalan club’s first ever victory at Juventus was more like the old Barca as they took control of Group G. Juventus stru struggled from the start to contain the visiting front three, with Giorgio Chiellini and Matthias De Ligt out injured and Leonardo Bonucci not fully fit.
Antoine
Griezmann hit the post after only two minutes. Former Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata had a hat-trick of strikes ruled out by VAR for offside – but Juventus missed the big-game presence of Ronaldo.
The Portuguese star first tested positive for coronavirus on October 13 – and failed more tests last Thursday and on Tuesday despite suffering no symptoms.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward, who has shaved his head during two weeks in quarantine in his Italian villa, took to Instagram yesterday to claim he is: “Feeling good and healthy!”
And Ronaldo, 35, labelled his positive test “bull****”.