{"id":312371,"date":"2017-04-20T06:20:18","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T06:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=312371"},"modified":"2017-04-20T06:20:18","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T06:20:18","slug":"juventus-defensive-masterclass-crashes-barca-ucl-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/04\/juventus-defensive-masterclass-crashes-barca-ucl-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Juventus’ defensive masterclass crashes Barca UCL dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"
Juventus produced an exceptional defensive performance to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League after stopping Barcelona from scoring at the Nou Camp.<\/p>\n
Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, Barca peppered the Italian goal but failed to repeat their last-16 heroics when they overturned a first-leg 4-0 deficit to beat Paris St-Germain.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Juventus join Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Monaco in Friday’s last-four draw (from 11:00 BST).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
When Barca did manage to carve out chances, Suarez, Messi and Neymar failed to deliver.<\/p>\n