Juventus triumph over Celtic

Celtic's Emilio Izaguirre (right) is challenged by Juventus' Leonardo Bonucci during their Champions League soccer match at Celtic Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.

Celtic's Emilio Izaguirre (right) is challenged by Juventus' Leonardo Bonucci during their Champions League soccer match at Celtic Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.

Published Feb 13, 2013

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Glasgow - Juventus secured a largely undeserved 3-0 win over Celtic in their Champions League last 16 first-leg tie on Tuesday after an otherwise backs-to-the-wall display to silence almost 60 000 passionate home fans at Parkhead.

Alessandro Matri took advantage of a mistake by Celtic's Efe Ambrose, who won the African Nations Cup with Nigeria on Sunday, to hand the Italians a third-minute lead with Kelvin Wilson's attempt to clear the ball on the line coming too late.

The Scottish champions, who beat Barcelona in the group stage, launched a series of assaults on Juve's goal for the rest of the first half but Kris Commons wasted several chances and two penalty appeals against Stephan Lichtsteiner were ignored.

The pace eased in a less frantic second period and the Serie A leaders increased their advantage through Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic late on to be perfectly placed to reach the quarter-finals when they host the return in Turin on March 6. - Reuters

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