Drogba delivers to put Chelsea in control
It gives Guus Hiddink’s side a slender advantage ahead of their last-16 second leg in Turin in a fortnight.
Drogba, his season hampered by injury, suspension and a fallout with axed coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, looked back to his predatory best when he took a pass from Salomon Kalou and despatched the ball beyond Gianluigi Buffon in the 12th minute.
Drogba insisted his timely return to form was not down to new boss Hiddink taking over from Scolari.
“No, I don’t think it’s because of a change of manager,” he said.
“We did our best. It was a difficult game and we created chances to score more but it’s a good result.
Hiddink was not totally satisfied despite the win, although he accepted Juventus did not make it easy for his team.
“We started very well and for the first 20 minutes we were pressing well and scored a very good goal,” said the Dutch coach.
“We should have scored at least one more to give ourselves a bit of a breather because, let’s be honest, in the last period of the game we suffered a lot.
“What I like and what I think we still have to work on a lot is to have more control even in these tough games.”
Chelsea made the first inroads towards goal with Jose Bosingwa forcing Gianluigi Buffon into a save in the fourth minute.
Four minutes later Drogba almost opened the scoring when he got ahead of his marker to turn a cross from Bosingwa just over the crossbar.
But the Ivorian put the home side in front in the 12th minute when a superb through ball from Salomon Kalou provided him with a shooting opportunity and Drogba supplied the required finish in style, although Juventus claimed Drogba was offside before he fired the ball home.
In the 15th minute, Drogba should have made it two when he met a corner from Frank Lampard inside the six-yard box but he headed wide.
It required a fine save from Petr Cech to preserve Chelsea’s lead in the 21st minute, when Alessandro Del Piero tried to find the corner with an angled drive that was tipped round the post.
The Serie A side were struggling to match Chelsea’s determination and the English team’s passion was underlined by two bone-crunching tackles from John Terry in the space of a few seconds.
Juventus were finding it hard to cope with this physical approach and Mauro Camoranesi required lengthy treatment before continuing.
Two minutes before the interval a handball by Drogba gave Del Piero the chance to level the scores but his freekick was hit straight at Cole.
It could have been worse for the visitors had Kalou not slipped as he tried to get on the end of Cech’s long clearance.
Chelsea continued their high tempo at the start of the second half. Some fine work by Lampard on the edge of the penalty area culminated in a shot from Michael Ballack but his effort was wide of the target.
An away goal would have tipped the tie in favour of the Italians and Nedved again tried to outwit Cech with a long-range effort but the Chelsea keeper was up to the threat.
Drogba almost scored his second of the night when he got ahead of Nicola Legrottaglie to head a cross from Bosingwa just wide.
In the 50th minute Juventus lost the services of Camoranesi with a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Marco Marchionni.
Chelsea felt they should have had a penalty when Drogba was brought down by Legrottaglie in the 53rd minute but Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca rejected their appeals. It was all Chelsea now with a sustained spell of pressure ending in a 20-yard shot by Lampard straight at Buffon’s midriff.
Cech was in trouble with a freekick from Del Piero in the 59th minute. The Czech international twice failed to gather the ball before it was eventually cleared by Terry.
Marchionni then gave Cech a scare with an angled 25-yard drive that flashed just over the bar. Juventus piled on the pressure as the game entered the last 15 minutes but Chelsea’s rearguard stuck to its task.
And Anelka almost gave Chelsea the cushion of a second goal when his 20-yard effort flashed inches wide of an upright in the 87th minute.
Nedved was wide by a similar margin in stoppage time but Chelsea held on for the victory.
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