Cristiano Ronaldo produced yet
another quality goal to add to his collection and help Juventus to a 1-1 draw
at Ajax Amsterdam in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie
on Wednesday.
Juventus took the lead on the
stroke of halftime as Portuguese forward Ronaldo began an attacking move inside
his own half.
He then sprinted downfield and
diving to head in a clever chip from Joao Cancelo.
Ajax equalised 30 seconds into
the second half after Cancelo lost control of the ball to allow David Neres to
run down the left wing
The Ajax player then cut inside
and curl the ball past Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
The result leaves the Serie A
side in a strong position to advance to the semi-finals in next week’s return
leg in Turin.
However, they will be mindful of
Ajax’s 4-1 away win over Real Madrid in the last round that eliminated the
holders 5-3 on aggregate.
Hakim Ziyech had several efforts
at goal in a lively start for the youthful Dutch team, who have come through
the pre-group phase qualifying round to reach the last eight.
Donny van de Beek scraped the
outside of the upright with a 25th minute effort from close range after opening
up space for himself in the penalty area in Ajax’s best chance of the first
half.
But Juventus, with the
34-year-old Ronaldo central to their attacks, worked their way into the contest
and came close themselves.
Ronaldo set up Federico
Bernardeschi to turn and shoot in the 37th minute. But he was just off target.
Ronaldo, who scored a hat-trick
in the previous round against Atletico Madrid, then scored a 125th Champions
League goal.
After equalising, Ajax then
dominated possession but were guilty of over-elaborate passing and were also
fortunate not to have given away a penalty.
Defender Nicolas Tagliafico was
tugging on the jersey of Juventus captain Mario Mandzukic and was lucky not to
be punished.
Spanish referee Carlos del Cerro
Grande paused briefly in the 53rd minute to presumably hear from the Video
Assistant Referee (VAR) but resumed play before TV replays showed that Juventus
had been denied a decent claim.
However, influential left back
Tagliafico will miss the second leg next Tuesday after being booked late in the
first half.
Juve hit the upright in the
closing stages through substitute Douglas Costa although Ajax could have had
the last say as Dusan Tadic missed a good chance in stoppage time.
More than 100 Juventus supporters
were detained by Dutch police before the match while home fans were also
arrested as a water cannon was used outside the ground. (Reuters/NAN)
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