Juventus made to battle before earning much needed win over gutsy Pafos (v)

Juventus registered their first home win of this season’s Champions League but were made to battle before overcoming Pafos 2-0 at home on Wednesday thanks to second-half goals from Weston McKennie and Jonathan David.

The sides were level on points going into the game and Pafos proved more than a match for their more illustrious Italian opponents for long periods, but Juventus earned a second successive win to boost their European hopes.

Juventus are 17th in the standings on nine points while Pafos are 26th on six points, with the top eight teams qualifying for the knockout stage and the next 16 going into the playoffs for the other eight spots.

“It was essential to win and with victories you put things right,” Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti told Sky.

“I’m not happy and neither are the boys, we could and should have done more.”

Pafos created an early chance with Anderson Silva’s backheeled shot going just wide and minutes later Juventus keeper Michele Di Gregorio needed to be alert to keep out an own goal when the ball ricocheted off Andrea Cambiaso.

The visitors’ keeper Neofytos Michael parried away Kenan Yildiz’s curling shot and Teun Koopmeiners headed wide from a Juventus corner but Pafos proved dangerous with quick counter-attacks.

Joao Correia got on the end of a long ball, shrugging off the attentions of McKennie before firing over and Vlad Dragomir reached Correia’s cross into the box but Di Gregorio had little trouble gathering his tame effort.

HOME FANS BOO JUVE

Pafos continued to cause problems. Silva struck the outside of the upright with another effort, Derrick Luckassen headed narrowly wide from a corner and Di Gregorio tipped over a powerful strike from Dragomir.

Juventus spurned a chance when David missed the target from inside the six-yard area and the halftime whistle was greeted with boos from the home fans after watching their side come under extreme pressure from the Cypriots.

The hosts had the first opportunity after the break when Koopmeiners’s shot was parried away and Yildiz blasted the rebound high and wide.

Francisco Conceicao, a halftime replacement, forced the Pafos keeper into a save at his near post as Juventus began to look more in control and Spalletti made another offensive change, replacing Manuel Locatelli with Lois Openda.

Openda had a shot deflected away and from the resulting corner Juventus found the opener in the 67th minute.

Pafos cleared the initial danger but Cambiaso played the ball back into the box and McKennie blasted past Michael at his near post from a tight angle.

Juventus doubled their lead six minutes later when Yildiz played a pin-point pass across to the unmarked David in the area and this time the striker made no mistake, taking a touch to control before steering his low shot past Michael.

The goals took the sting out of the Pafos fight and Juventus never looked like letting their lead slip.

“The minimum was done, in the first half there were also embarrassing situations,” Spalletti added.

Wednesday’s results
Qarabağ (1) 2 – Ajax (1) 4
Villarreal (0) 2 – København (1) 3
Athletic Club (0) 0 – Paris Saint-Germain (0) 0
Bayer Leverkusen (1) 2 – Newcastle United (0) 2
Borussia Dortmund (1) 2 – Bodø / Glimt (1) 2
Club Brugge (0) 0 – Arsenal (1) 3
Juventus (0) 2 – Pafos (0) 0
Real Madrid (1) 1 – Manchester City (2) 2
Benfica (1) 2 – Napoli (0) 0

Champions League standings – (after 6 of 8 games played)
1 Arsenal 18
2 Bayern München 15
3 Paris SG 13
4 Man City 13
5 Atalanta 13
6 Inter 12
7 Real Madrid 12
8 Atlético 12
Teams in positions 1-8 automatically qualify for the last 16
9 Liverpool 12
10 Dortmund 11
11 Spurs 11
12 Newcastle 10
13 Chelsea 10
14 Sporting 10
15 Barcelona 10
16 Marseille 9
17 Juventus 9
18 Galatasaray 9
19 Monaco 9
20 Leverkusen 9
21 PSV 8
22 Qarabağ 7
23 Napoli 7
24 København 7
Teams in positions 9-24 compete in a two-legged knockout play-off to join the top 8
25 Benfica 6
26 Pafos 6
27 R. Union SG 6
28 Athletic 5
29 Olympiakos 5
30 Frankfurt 4
31 Club Brugge 4
32 Bodø/Glimt 3
33 Slavia 3
34 Ajax 3
35 Villarreal 1
36 Kairat 1
Teams in positions 25-36 are eliminated