Conte amazed to leave Celtic ‘hell’ with win
Juventus manager relieved after 3-0 victory over Scottish giants.
After the 3-0 win over Celtic in the first leg, Juventus are favourites to progress to the quarter-finals. PHOTO: AFP
GLASGOW:
Juventus coach Antonio Conte has suffered much in recent months but coming away from the ‘hell’ of a noisy and fervent Celtic Park with a 3-0 win in their Champions League last 16 first leg felt like an enormous relief.
The Italian champions, who again lead Serie A despite a recent wobble, were dominated by Celtic in the first half as the Scots besieged the Juve goal and harried every player as they were roared on by almost 60,000 passionate fans.
Juve took a third-minute lead through Alessandro Matri before weathering the storm to wrap up the win and their highly probable passage to the quarter-finals through Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic in the second half.
Conte knows the second leg in Turin on March 6 should only be a formality but gave credit to Celtic.
“It has been a very important victory but also one where we suffered,” said Conte. “Celtic are a great team when they play at home. I didn’t play in a hell like this many times. “My lads were superb, it was not easy to play in this atmosphere. We’ve managed a great result which proves this team has top technical and human values.
In the other match of the night, French giants Paris St Germain conceded a late goal and had Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent off in added time in a 2-1 win over Valencia at the Mestalla.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2013.
Juventus coach Antonio Conte has suffered much in recent months but coming away from the ‘hell’ of a noisy and fervent Celtic Park with a 3-0 win in their Champions League last 16 first leg felt like an enormous relief.
The Italian champions, who again lead Serie A despite a recent wobble, were dominated by Celtic in the first half as the Scots besieged the Juve goal and harried every player as they were roared on by almost 60,000 passionate fans.
Juve took a third-minute lead through Alessandro Matri before weathering the storm to wrap up the win and their highly probable passage to the quarter-finals through Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic in the second half.
Conte knows the second leg in Turin on March 6 should only be a formality but gave credit to Celtic.
“It has been a very important victory but also one where we suffered,” said Conte. “Celtic are a great team when they play at home. I didn’t play in a hell like this many times. “My lads were superb, it was not easy to play in this atmosphere. We’ve managed a great result which proves this team has top technical and human values.
In the other match of the night, French giants Paris St Germain conceded a late goal and had Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent off in added time in a 2-1 win over Valencia at the Mestalla.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2013.