Deportivo upset Juve as Lyon also make it through

JUVENTUS, last season’s Champions League runners-up, failed to make it past the first knockout round last night as a 12th-minute Walter Pandiani goal gave Deportivo Coruna a 1-0 victory at the Delle Alpi stadium for a 2-0 aggregate win.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg and without several key players, including French striker David Trezeguet, the Italian champions suffered an early blow when forward Alessandro Del Piero limped off in the seventh minute with a leg injury. Their troubles were compounded when Uruguayan Pandiani put Deportivo ahead, taking advantage of hesitation by his international team-mate, Juve defender Paolo Montero, to finish with a smart half-volley.

Marcello Lippi’s side never looked like getting the three goals they needed to make it to the quarter-finals and a confident and well-organised Deportivo dealt comfortably with the few threats Juventus posed.

Lippi was forced to shuffle his pack at half-time, substituting Legrottaglie with Gianluca Pessotto and switching to a 4-4-2 formation.

Juventus changed the pace in the second half and threatened, but Portuguese international Jorge Andrade was imperious at the back and made four crucial interventions in succession to keep the Italians at bay.

Then Molina topped Deportivo’s display with a fantastic save from Miccoli’s 65th-minute free-kick, which had been heading for the top corner.

When Stephen Appiah’s powerful 27-metre shot cannoned back off the bar, it was evident that this was not Juve’s night and Deportivo could have added insult to injury in added time when they broke away, but Nourredine Naybet hit the crossbar.

Two-times European Cup winners Juventus had not lost at home to Spanish opposition since Real Madrid beat them 1-0 in Turin in the 1962 European Cup quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Brazilian midfielder Juninho Pernambucano struck after 77 minutes with a beautifully-crafted goal to steer French champions Olympique Lyon past Real Sociedad through to the Champions League quarter-finals. Breaking from midfield, Juninho exchanged passes with striker Peguy Luyindula, who reversed the ball back into his path, before shooting in off a post to give Lyon a 2-0 aggregate advantage. They led 1-0 from the first leg in San Sebastian two weeks earlier and now take their place in Friday’s last eight draw in Nyon.

The goal was out of context in a dour encounter that saw Real Sociedad reduced to spoiling tactics, though midfielder Xabi Alonso had a header cleared off the line by Eric Deflandre in the second half.