Rome, Feb 12 (IANS) Juventus took the initiative in the UEFA Champions League play-offs, beating PSV Eindhoven 2-1 in the first leg at home on Wednesday (IST).
Juve placed 20th in the league phase and is the unseeded team in the play-offs, while PSV had ranked 14th. The two sides had also met in the league stage, with Juve winning 3-1.
The Bianconeri was aggressive in Tuesday’s game and went ahead in the 34th minute when Federico Gatti’s cross was blocked, but he won the ball and chested for Weston McKennie to smash home on the edge of the box.
The away side equalised in the 56th minute when former Inter Milan player Ivan Perisic gathered the ball in the box, and his nice first touch committed Lloyd Kelly before the Croatian fired home with a low strike.
Juve restored the lead in the 82nd minute when Francisco Conceicao burst down the right, and his cross was parried into the path of Samuel Mbangula, who slotted home from close range.
The Bianconeri will travel to Eindhoven February 19 for the second leg as they look to book their place in the next round.
“This victory is only the first step, in the second leg we have to put in a great performance to progress to the Round of 16. Dynamism is an important aspect of our game, we have to maintain a high level of intensity and we definitely have to improve on that,” said Juve coach Thiago Motta.
Earlier, Ousmane Dembele continued his superb recent form to score a double and put Paris Saint Germain in control of their all-French tie against Brest. Vitinha gave the visitors the lead by coolly converting an early penalty awarded for handball.
Dembele doubled the advantage with a low fizzing effort on the stroke of half-time before bundling in his tenth goal in his last four games to seal an impressive 3-0 victory for Luis Enrique’s side.
–IANS
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