Champions Women, Juve-Zurich 5-0: 4 goals from Girelli and one from Beerensteyn

All easy for Juventus Women against Zurich in the penultimate match of the Women’s Champions League group stage. The girls from Montemurro win 5-0 and remain in the running to reach the quarter-finals: next Wednesday’s direct clash on the field of reigning champions Lyon will be decisive. Reassuring signals from the Juventus players, in a match conditioned by the snow so much that kick-off was postponed for 45 minutes (from 18.45 to 19.30) to allow the stadium maintenance staff to clean the playing field .

JUVE ADVANTAGE

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Juve started strong and released after just two minutes with Girelli, able to free himself in the area and back-heel a corner kick from Caruso. Then he concedes little and manages to contain the opponents without too much effort, even if Pilgrim could immediately equalize the score with a lob on Peyraud-Magnin who does not enter the goal by a thing. Cernoia and again Girelli could instead consolidate the advantage, as indeed Montemurro’s formation deserves, very close to the second half-time goal with Bonansea (shot deflected for a corner). The doubling matures precisely on the consequent shot from the flag, on the opposite side to the first marking: this time the short cross, on the near post, is from Cernoia, Beerensteyn just needs to anticipate the defender to sign the 2-0. It is played mainly in the Zurich half, in clear difficulty and with little credible content to change the inertia of the match.

BLACK AND WHITE DOMAIN

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Before the interval Pinther tries to shorten the distance with a quick verticalization and Girelli virtually closes the match by scoring a penalty, awarded for a clear foul on Beerensteyn. Zurich has little quality to climb the mountain in the second half and the black and whites, not so impeccable in the defensive phase in some circumstances, have to do little to keep control of the match in the long run. Rather, in the second half striker Girelli took care of spreading with two other personal goals (the second still from eleven meters) and making the last half hour a pleasant workout. Caruso and Bonansea came close to scoring again, Peyraud-Magnin was ready for a couple of desperate attempts from Zurich and saved himself with the crossbar from a shot from the edge by Megroz. The visiting team closed in 10 due to the expulsion of Pando: bad intervention at the end against Beerensteyn, who was forced out in pain.