Rovers hold Juventus to single goal

Juventus 1 Shamrock Rovers 0 (Juventus win 3-0 on aggregate)

Stellar substitute Alessandro Del Piero hit a wonder goal to beat Shamrock Rovers and rubberstamp their exit from the Europa League in Modena last night.

The dreadful conditions of torrential rain, which made the decision to start the match at all most questionable, acted as a leveller in the initial stages as Rovers started well, perhaps having the best chance of the first half on 34 minutes.

Stephen Bradley's deep free on the right was headed down by skipper Dan Murray and Billy Dennehy just failed to make contact at the back post.

As expected, Juve were always going to be a huge threat at the other end with Davide Lanzafame and Amauri, their two goal hero from Tallaght Stadium last week, both wasting good openings.

With Del Piero introduced for the second half, Juventus enjoyed their most sustained period of pressure, culminating in his winning goal on 74 minutes.

Murray was angry at being penalised for a foul on Amauri.

There was no doubting the quality of Del Piero’s free-kick from all of 30 yards however, which rocketed into the roof of Mannus’s net.