A brace by Gonzalo Higuain has handed Juventus a priceless away win over Monaco in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The Argentine grabbed his first of the night in the 29th minute and the second in the 59th minute.
Massimiliano Allegri’s men made it to the semis after a tactical and defensive masterclass over Barcelona.
After shutting out Barca’s deadly attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar over two legs, the Bianconeri have gone on to keep a clean sheet against the high-scoring Monaco side.
An in-form Kylian Mbappe supported by Radamel Falcao and line of exciting young players swept Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Borrusia Dortmund aside to reach the semis in a goal fest, but the young striker’s goal-scoring run has been halted.
On Tuesday, Cristiano Ronaldo proved himself to be the man for the big occasion when he scored a hat-trick to give Real Madrid an advantage over Atletico in Champions League semi-finals.
The four-time Ballon became the first player to record three career trebles in the Champions League knockout stage, and also went on level with Lionel Messi with his seventh hat-trick in the competition as a whole.
Juventus produced another unbelievable defensive performance and has now recorded a clean sheet in all five of its knockout stage matches so far this UCL campaign, which includes two matches against Porto and two more against Barcelona. If you include the knockout stage, Juve has held its opponent goalless in 9 of 11 matches. And this was one of the most impressive, with Monaco the highest scoring team in Europe.
With its defense at a high level, the attack wasn't there in the early going, mainly because of Higuain's struggles. He was slipping around, hitting the ball away from goal instead of at it, and it wasn't pretty. But that all changed, and Dani Alves is why.
The Brazilian defender assisted on both of the Argentine's goals. The first came on 29 minutes and Alves backheeled the assist:
The second was in the 59th minute, and it came off some fine pressure from Alves and Paulo Dybala to recover the ball. Alves then lofted a perfect pass to Higuain at the back post.
And with that, a near perfect result for the visitors.
Monaco had scored in 29 straight matches up until the 5-0 loss to PSG in the French Cup on April 26. Now the club has been held scoreless in two of its last three matches.
This result doesn't ensure Juve goes through to the final, but it nearly does as it is hard to envision Monaco scoring enough in Turin. If Juve gets just one goal, Monaco will still need three. Juve has only allowed three goals twice this entire season, and not once has it been at home.
The second leg will be next Tuesday at 2:45 p.m. ET.
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