Juventus Punish Sloppy Celtic to take Strangle hold in Round of 16 tie

Juventus completed the perfect 'Italian Job' as they got the better of Celtic 3-0 in the 1st leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash at Celtic Park. Celtic manager Neil Lennon started with Gary Hooper up front with Kris Commons in tow while also starting Nigerian central defender Effy Ambrose who had just returned from the African Cup of Nations. Antonio Conte went with Martin Caceres in place of the suspended Giorgio Chiellini to partner Leonardo Bonucci & Andrea Barzagli in a back 3 while Alessandro Matri & Mirko Vucinic started up front. Celtic egged on by a boisterous home crowd made the early running playing a high-tempo game. Juventus were content on sitting back, soaking up the pressure and playing on the counter. They punished Celtic in the just the 3rd minute of the game, as Matri ran on to a high ball, outmuscling Ambrose to prod the ball towards goal. Kevin Wilson cleared the ball off the line, though replays showed it to have crossed over. The clearance fell to Claudio Marchisio who blasted Juve into the lead. Celtic kept up the pressure and had most of the ball, but lacked any real cutting edge to get past a rock solid Juventus defence. Kris Commons & Victor Wanyama were restricted to taking long shots which Buffon saved with ease. Juventus on the contrary, looked dangerous everytime they got on the ball with Andrea Pirlo directing traffic. He set Vucinic through on one occassion with a delightful through ball and the Montenegro forward rounded the keeper but his cross was cut out by the defender. Celtic's aerial balls into the box too didn't have much effect as the Juve back three of Barzagli, Bonucci & Caceres were equal to the task. The home side had 10 corners in the game to the visitors' 1, but could not capitalize as the Juve defence had a stellar game man marking each Celtic player and were first to every ball that came in. The game slowed down a bit in the 2nd half and on the hour mark, defender Ambrose had a chance to make up for his error with a free header at goal. His effort though was a weak one and it enabled Buffon to save with ease. Juventus then scored their 2nd in the 73rd minute when Lichtsteiner cut in from the left to feed Matri who found Marchisio with a first time pass with the outside of his right boot. Marchisio cut back on to his right foot to beat Scott Brown and unleashed a powerful shot to grab his & Juve's 2nd of the night. The tie was well and truly in the Italians' grasp and Mirko Vucinic added further insurance 6 minutes later when Ambrose, who had a night to forget, got caught in possession by Marchisio who stole the ball and played a beautiful through ball to Vucinic who hit a first time finish to make it 3-0. Juventus became only the 2nd team to beat Celtic on their home ground in European competition, Barcelona being the other.