Juventus play out a draw at Stade Louis II as they go through to the next stage of the Champions League with a 1-0 aggregate win. Monaco looked as if they would nab a goal for most of the game but they died off towards the end.

With a one goal deficit from the first leg of this tie, Monaco needed a goal as soon as possible and they were the team that started out the game on top. Some of their opening passes were inaccurate and quite poor but it seemed the belief was there. The first chance started with Ferreira Carrasco passing the ball to Geoffrey Kondogbia but he was unable to do anything with it and he hit the 25-yard shot wide of the goal.

Juventus had their first chance quite early on as well as in the 7th minute, Alvaro Morata went down around the halfway line but play didn’t stop. Andrea Pirlo lobbed the ball towards the 15-yard line where Carlos Tevez was. He had the opportunity to hit the ball with his laces but, he headed the ball right into Danijel Subasic’s Hands.

A genuine change happened at the quarter of an hour mark when Joao Moutinho passed the ball to Bernardo Silva as he ran down the by-line. The chance looked promising but, Morata was able to get a foot in the way and put the ball out for a corner. The corner didn’t lead to a chance.

With an early booking to his name, Giorgio Chiellini struggled to tame Silva as he ran forward with pace constantly throughout the first half. The booking was from the 2nd minute when he slipped over and happened to pull back the Monaco attacker.

Juventus seemed a bit raged towards the end of the first half and it even led to their manager Massimiliano Allegri screaming on the touchline telling them to calm down and get to half time. Monaco were applying a lot of possessive pressure but, they were unable to take advantage of it until that point.

The next big piece of action was from the Juventus penalty area as Kondogbia made a testing run in the 35th minute towards the Juve goal and clumsy defending meant that Alturo Vidal and Chiellini seemed to sandwich him and force him to the ground. Chiellini got a slight touch on the ball which may have saved his team.

Juventus had what seemed to be a rare attack in the first half late on. In the 37th minute, Pirlo gave the ball to Vidal who was on the left-wing, the ball went straight back to Pirlo. The Juve legend was unable to offload the ball to Stephan Lichtsteiner as the Monaco defence were too strong.

The visiting team, had the last attack of the half in the 44th minute. Morata produced a brilliant turn to get away from Fabinho, Tevez took the ball and went on to unleash an effort from 25-yards out. The ball flew at most two yards wide of the post but, it worried the stern Monaco defence.

The second half started sloppy as players reactions seemed slow and challenges were going in late. Vidal sent in for a slide tackle on Carrasco in the 50th minute which was lucky to only be a foul. The free-kick was in a good position and it should have tested the defence but, the ball was hit over everyone in the area and it led to nothing.

Monaco should have pounced on a mistake from Buffon just after that Vidal challenge as the ball was whipped into the box by Moutinho and Buffon went up to punch the ball away and he completely missed it. Luckily for the keeper, Patrice Evra was at the edge of the box to pick up the ball and drag it away from their goal.

The play was more open in the second half as the play was end to end for a while. Buffon tried to start a counter attack in the 57th minute and substitute Dimitar Berbatov almost nicked the ball from the veteran keeper. The keeper showed just enough speed to get the ball away from Berbatov and danger.

Juventus should have made more of an effort in the 59th minute as Pirlo hit one of his signature long balls to Morata. He had Tevez as backup and they could have forced more of an attack. Morata probably should have passed the ball to Tevez but instead, he took the shot and it hit the defender right in front of him. The Argentinian was fuming that he wasn’t used.

The French side had a brief spell around the hour mark where they applied pressure to the Italians. Carrasco slipped the ball out wide towards the Monaco star Silva and he hit the ball dead on. The ball wen two yards wide of the post and Buffon didn’t even look fazed.

Juve seemed like they didn’t know whether they should go forward and attack or stay back and defend. The player tried to stay back but Evra pushed the ball forward for a cross. He cut the ball back to Marchisio who performs a dire shot which ended up being dragged wide.

Monaco were knocking on the Juve door and they certainly looked more comfortable playing defensive. It almost went wrong when Vidal played a ball back to Buffon when he was deep inside the Monaco half but the Veteran knew how to deal with that situation.

The team in Red and White had too many of their players in their own half even in the late stages of the game and they needed to push the squad further up the pitch. They are able to get onto the counter attack but when they get up to the other end of the pitch, there is no support from other teammates.

The last Juventus chance of the game fell to Pirlo as he stepped over a free-kick, he hit the ball from around 30-yards in the 91st minute and it dipped to hit the corner of the goal frame. Subasic was completely beaten and probably should have been a goal.

Juventus go through to the semi-finals of the Champions League, despite this draw, due to their 1-0 win in the first leg at Juventus Stadium. The goal in that came had its fair share of controversy but, it did the job for the Italian giants.

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About the author
Jake Parker
Jake is an 19-year-old Sports Journalist at Staffordshire University who joined this site in March 2015. He writes about the Premier League, and predominantly Manchester United. He is also a follower of his hometown club, Fleetwood Town. Twitter - @jakelewisparker.