Juventus produced a solid, confident performance at the Europa-Park Stadion to win 2-0 and eliminate Freiburg from the Europa League.
The Bianconeri scored a goal in either half, the first from Dušan Vlahović from the penalty spot, the second in stoppage time from Federico Chiesa, to add to the first leg advantage to win the round of 16 tie 3-0 on aggregate.
THE MATCH
Juventus kicked off intent on conceding the home side nothing in the opening minutes. In fact, Freiburg were limited to a only a shot from the edge of the area from Ritsu Doan in the first 20 minutes.
Juve weren’t only defending, however. A vicious drive from Manuel Locatelli stung the gloves of Mark Flekken to signal the visitors’ intention not to sit back and simply defend their slender goal lead from the first leg.
At the midway point of the first half, the hosts broke in behind the Juve defence, forcing Wojciech Szczęsny to concede a corner. The keeper then outdid himself to keep out a Matthias Ginter header. Bremer stepped in to block the follow up from Michael Gregoritsch.
Five minutes later the ball was in the back of the home side’s net.
Filip Kostić whipped in a free kick awarded after Adrien Rabiot had been chopped down by Manuel Gulde, his first booking of the evening. Bremer met the cross with a powerful header, which crashed off the underside of the crossbar. Moise Kean was first on to the rebound, and his touch found its way to Dušan Vlahović, who spun and cracked the ball home from inside the six-yard area.
Dušan’s joy turned to disappointment when VAR intervened to rule the goal out for offside.
However, Vlahović would have his goal before half time.
After a Moise Kean run and shot had been blocked by Fekken, Juve quickly recylced possession. Federico Gatti added extra weight to the attack. A Nicolò Fagioli dummy allowed the ball to run into the path of Gatti inside the area and the central defender’s shot was cleared off the line with Flekken beaten.
Again VAR intervened. After studying the footage, the match official awarded Juve a penalty for handball by Gulde, who received his second yellow card.
Dušan kept his cool from the spot, driving his shot down the middle. Flekken got a touch but not enough to keep the ball out.
Juve went into the break one goal and one player to the good.
The second half was more a matter of maintaining the advantage than pushing on for a second goal. Szczęsny was seldom tested as the 10-man Bundesliga outfit struggled to create clear scoring chances.
Inside stoppage time, Juve did find their second goal on the night.
Federico Chiesa was not to be denied. The substitute had just been denied by Flekken, whose arm deflected the number 7’s shot onto the crossbar, but with his second chance, set up by Rabiot, he slotted the ball in at the near post to the wheel away and celebrate in front of the joyous travelling support.
Juve by two goals on the night, three on aggregate and go into the urn for tomorrow’s draw for the Europa League quarter-finals.
FREIBURG 0-2 JUVENTUS (HT: 0-1)
SCORER: 43’ Vlahović (pen), 90’+5′ Chiesa
FREIBURG: Flekken; Kubler, Ginter, Gulde; Sildillia, Eggestein (46′ Schmidt), Hofler, Gunter (74′ Weißhaupt); Doan (63′ Sallai), Gregoritsch (74′ Petersen), Holer (63′ Grifo). Subs not used: Uphoff, Atubolu, Schmid, Keitel, Jeong, Rohl. Coach: Streich.
JUVENTUS: Szczęsny; Gatti, Bremer, Danilo; Cuadrado (84′ De Sciglio), Fagioli, Locatelli (84′ Barrenechea), Rabiot, Kostic (70′ Iling); Kean (90′ Soulé), Vlahovic (70′ Chiesa). Subs not used: Perin, Pinsoglio, Rugani, Paredes, Miretti, Compagnon, Di Maria. Coach: Allegri.
REFEREE: Gözübüyük
BOOKINGS: 26’ & 43’ Gulde, 56′ Vlahovic, 81′ Iling, 87′ Sallai
SENDINGS OFF: 43’ Gulde