CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Former champions Juventus and Barcelona on Tuesday reached the lucrative Champions League group stage after safely negotiating away second legs in their final qualifiers.
Both the Italians and the Catalan club had cruised to respective 4-0 wins over Slovakia’s Artmedia Petrzalka and Poland’s Wisla Krakow on their own turf — but Barca were sluggish in going down 1-0 on the night to a goal from Brazilian Cleber early in the second half.
PHOTO: EPA
That sealed their passage 4-1 on aggregate while Juve, who were held 1-1 on the night, went through 5-1 on aggregate.
Juve found themselves a goal behind after just 14 minutes when Branislav Fodrek put Artmedia ahead with an overhead kick but Amauri canceled that strike out with a header nine minutes later as Claudio Ranieri’s side, European champions in 1985 and 1996, secured a first group berth in three seasons.
Former Chelsea boss Ranieri had to shuffle his pack as Juve were without defender and first leg goalscorer Giorgio Chiellini with a knee injury but veteran Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved returned to add his experience following suspension.
PHOTO: AP
Italian Olympic standout Claudio Marchisio started while Ranieri left French veteran David Trezeguet alongside Alessandro Del Piero on the bench.
After Tuesday’s less than impressive showing, which included a booking for French striker Thierry Henry, Barcelona will at least expect to welcome back Olympic gold medalist Lionel Messi for the group stages.
The Catalan club open their league campaign against Numancia this weekend.
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