juventus 0-3

Independent:

Chelsea on the brink as Di Matteo's big gamble backfires
Juventus 3 Chelsea 0

Sam Wallace

It is only six months since Chelsea’s miracle of Munich, but in Turin, Roberto Di Matteo finally had to confront the inadequacies of a club whose luck has run out.

The Chelsea manager made the only decision he could be expected to make when he dropped the dismal Fernando Torres for the first time this season but sadly for Di Matteo there was no-one else to replace the great sulking centre-forward. That is the problem when a club places all its faith in a very flawed striker whose confidence has been eroded to nothing and allow the one forward who might rescue the situation to leave.
It meant that on the night that new Chelsea – the one without the departed Didier Drogba and the injured John Terry and Frank Lampard – were required to stand up and be counted, all Di Matteo was left with was a collection of callow No 10s, out of position wingers and nervy defenders. This club is, after all, the champions of Europe. It should not be like this.
Sadly for Chelsea, they were well-beaten last night, by a Juventus team that looked infinitely more confident and assured. Chelsea’s record now stands at two wins in their last eight games and should Manchester City come to Stamford Bridge and win then it would be no exaggeration to say that the season could be in danger of collapsing before the new year.
As for their chances of reaching the Champions League group stages, they hang by a thread. To go through Chelsea must hope that Shakhtar Donetsk beat Juventus on 5 December and that they beat Nordsjaelland in their final group game – a not implausible scenario. However, Shakhtar are already through regardless and a draw between the two clubs would see them and Juve both into the knockout stages.
Worst of all for Chelsea, their destiny in the competition is out of their hands. They will not need reminding that they face the prospect of being the first holders in the competition not to make it out of the group stages the following season but, all told, that might well be the least of Di Matteo’s problems.
The wonders he achieved in last season’s competition only count for so much in the volatile atmosphere of his club. He does not deserve to be concerned about his future but, come on, this is Chelsea. Given the ruthlessness with which Di Matteo’s predecessors have been disposed he would be foolish to think that his position is unaffected with Rafael Benitez a potential stopgap until Pep Guardiola becomes available.
Last night, Di Matteo took a risk by leaving out Torres but a manager must do what his instincts tell him to do. In Torres’ absence, Oscar shone at times in the second half but faded after the break. Gary Cahill and David Luiz’s partnership in defence now stands at ten games played together, 20 goals conceded.
In the meantime, the grown-ups took control of the game. By that we mean the extravagantly bearded Andrea Pirlo who passed Chelsea into submission, and the excellent Arturo Vidal who scored his side’s second goal. By the time Petr Cech committed himself too early when substitute Sebastian Giovinco ran through for the third in injury-time, Chelsea were well-beaten.
Di Matteo shuffled his side quite radically last night with the inclusion of Cesar Azpilicueta as a right-winger. On last night’s official Uefa team sheet, the Chelsea formation included a five-man defence but when they settled into their shape, it was 4-2-3-1. Eden Hazard took the role formerly occupied by Torres with Oscar in the No 10 role and Juan Mata on the left.
There were times at the start of the first half when it looked like Chelsea might cave in and they came to rely on the presence of Cech in goal in the early stages. He blocked a back post shot from Stephan Lichtsteiner with his knee in the fourth minute. Later he got down to push a shot from Claudio Marchisio wide of the near post.
Oscar’s run from left to right on nine minutes, picking his way through a crowd of Juventus defenders, turned out to be the best moment for Chelsea in the entire game. As he reached the edge of the area he unselfishly picked out Hazard in the right channel who took a touch and then hit a shot that never looked decisive enough to beat Gianluigi Buffon.
It would be pushing it to say that Chelsea were comfortable but they had come through something of a storm when finally Juventus broke through on 38 minutes. Pirlo got possession yet again after Ramires slipped. The midfielder hit a shot that Cech would have had covered were it not for the deft touch of Fabio Quagliarella to change the direction of the ball and beat the goalkeeper.
In the moments the followed Chelsea could have really lost the plot but Ashley Cole got them off the hook with a sharp clearance from the touchline. Even in the last six minutes of the half there was a chance for Mata when Oscar crossed from the right and the Chelsea man seemed to lose his nerve with Buffon bearing down on him.
To rescue the game, Chelsea needed to score but they never came close. After the hour, Vidal scored with a shot from Kwadwo Asamoah’s cross from the left side. His strike took a critical deflection off Ramires on its way in and the feeling was that Cech would have had the shot covered if it had stayed true.
Torres came on in the last 20 minutes, with Victor Moses already having replaced Azpilicueta. Chelsea did not look any better in attack and Giovinco broke free late on and scored with Cech too far off his line.
Last season, Chelsea went around Europe in the latter stages of the competition and showed no qualms about parking the bus and hanging on against opponents who would otherwise have expected to beat them. This season Di Matteo has been expected to do something different: to coax the best out of Torres and to entertain his pay-masters in Europe.
His team may yet do that in Europe, but their demanding owner might have to settle for them performing on Thursday nights in the Europa League rather than on the stage to which they are accustomed.

Man of the match Vidal.
Match rating 6/10.
Referee C Cakir (Tur).
Attendance 40,000.


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Guardian:

Juventus hit three and leave Chelsea limping towards the exit
Dominic Fifield at Juventus Stadium

Arturo Vidal celebrates after scoring Juventus's second against Chelsea along with Fabio Quagliarella, scorer of the first. Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images
Chelsea's fate in this competition has been ripped from their hands and with it will surely go the European Cup. Roberto Di Matteo had demanded a show of strength but in the end his fading champions were merely overwhelmed, battered into submission by a dominant Juventus who can sense their own progress. The London club's defence, not for the first time, seems in tatters.
A slim chance of reaching the knock-out remains, though Juve need only avoid defeat in Donetsk next month to join the Ukrainians in the last 16. While this is no time for conspiracy theories, a draw might be convenient for both.
Di Matteo shivered alone amid the tumult on the touchline, the bravery of his decision to omit the fitful Fernando Torres from his starting lineup forgotten with deficiencies gaping throughout his team. They would surely have been overrun regardless of the Spaniard's presence. This was ragged, dismal and, by the end, utterly conclusive.
It was hard to equate the limp display with those that had claimed the trophy in Munich back in May, when Chelsea had bristled with resolve and unswerving belief. How they craved the authority of a John Terry, or the steadying influence of Frank Lampard in midfield, but Di Matteo had been denied both.
Instead, they wilted as they had under André Villas-Boas in Napoli last February, stretched down either flank, a muddle through the centre, and with Petr Cech's defiance eventually swept away in the chaos. There had been bold decisions that night in Naples, too, with Michael Essien and Ashley Cole omitted to raised eyebrows. The risk did not pay off for the Portuguese and neither did it for Di Matteo. This team do not seem capable of resisting sides who cut swathes at such pace.
The second goal perhaps best summed up their vulnerability, Mirko Vucinic dragging David Luiz from the centre and feeding a marauding Kwadwo Asamoah on the inside. The Ghanaian cut his pass back intelligently for Arturo Vidal, one of two Juve players free on the edge of the area, to hit an attempt at goal, the ball flicking off Ramires, standing in Cech's eye line, and fizzing through the goalkeeper's legs.
Sebastian Giovinco's third, poked beyond an advancing Cech from distance with the visitors overcommitted upfield, merely confirmed the Italian champions' dominance. Chelsea had not lost by a three-goal margin in this competition for 12 years. This was a rout.
The frustration was that while Torres' omission had drawn the focus, Di Matteo's selection had been geared towards achieving solidity in the absence of influential older heads. César Azpilicueta had been positioned ahead of Branislav Ivanovic to offer the Serb greater protection. Cole did not enjoy the same shield on the opposite side, where Juan Mata's instincts are always further forward, but even then they were breached far too easily. This was a 10th match in succession without a clean sheet and the central defensive partnership of David Luiz and Gary Cahill, so often a first-choice pairing given Terry's regular absences, has yielded 20 goals in the 10 games they have started this term.
The narrow back-line invited raids on the outside, and there is little security being offered up by Ramires and Mikel John Obi in central midfield. Stephan Lichtsteiner, darting beyond Cole on to Vucinic's clipped cross, forced Cech to tip on to a post at their first attack. Nullifying Vidal and Lichtsteiner was asking too much of the full-back, who later scrambled David Luiz's header from his goal-line, though by then Chelsea were playing catch-up.
Fabio Quagliarella had stuck out a leg in hope rather than expectation as Andrea Pirlo drove from distance, with Cech's momentum having carried him too far to his right. He scrambled desperately to make amends but as he dived, could only reach the ball with the fingertips of his left hand and they were breached.
In defeat, the politics of Torres' omission take on greater significance. Patience has clearly snapped with the Spaniard, who has offered so little over recent weeks as the team stumbled through two wins in eight matches. All those bold pledges that the new Chelsea would be built around the £50m British-record signing have been exposed as hopelessly optimistic. This was the most significant game of their defence so far and yet he was required for only 19 minutes, the second of Di Matteo's substitutes after Victor Moses. That was damning, though it remains to be seen how the hierarchy will react.
Daniel Sturridge's tweaked hamstring the night before left Eden Hazard leading the line, the Belgian almost benefiting from Oscar's wonderfully weaved first-half run from deep inside his own half only for Gianluigi Buffon to save at his near-post. Mata, too, forced the goalkeeper to block from close range, but those attempts were squeezed out on the break, amid frantic Juve pressure. For Chelsea the likelihood is the Europa League awaits. At present, that feels ignominious.


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Telegraph:

Chelsea's Champions League dream fades with 3-0 defeat to Juventus as Roberto Di Matteo is taught a lesson
Don’t mess with the Old Lady. Don’t experiment in the heaving, hi-tech new citadel of Juventus, the home of Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Pirlo.

By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent, in Turin


Chelsea's manager, Roberto Di Matteo, gambled and lost here, taught a painful lesson by hosts who were stronger, sharper and superior.
These are chastening times for Chelsea, fighting against the fading of their Champions League light, facing the humiliation of becoming the first holders of the modern-format European Cup not to progress from the group stage. Di Matteo’s side now host Nordsjaellend on Dec 5 while Juventus travel to Shakhtar Donetsk. It is not all over, but it looks ominously like Thursday nights in the Europa League for Chelsea.
These are increasingly troubled times for Di Matteo, whose team have now won only two games in eight. This is the type of poor run that can stir the trigger-happy tendencies in Roman Abramovich. As the inquests intensify, and the blame game is played, the Russian must decide who is most culpable: his manager or assorted underperforming players, notably Fernando Torres.
Di Matteo finally ran out of patience with Torres, leaving the £50 million man on the bench for 71 minutes. Many Chelsea supporters concurred with their manager’s decision, having witnessed Torres’ listless displays.
Yet whatever Torres’ undoubted failings it was still a huge call by Di Matteo to omit a real No 9, relying on Eden Hazard as a “false No 9”. The Belgian is a creative force, deftly manipulating the ball behind a centre-forward in a 4-2-3-1 system, but he is not a line-leading heavyweight, particularly against defenders of the calibre of Chiellini.

If Torres’ travails have increased the likelihood of Abramovich buying a centre-forward in January, and the obvious target is Atletico Madrid’s Falcao, then the focus will also be on how long Abramovich persists with Di Matteo. He steadied the ship last March and hardly deserves to be offloaded so quickly. Operation “Get Pep” may be delayed until the summer. Why would the former Barcelona coach want to break off his Manhattan sabbatical for a team hurtling towards the Europa League?
Di Matteo, a contender for Fifa Coach of the Year following last season’s triumphs, deserves longer. The team need strengthening more than the dug-out. Where are the on-field leaders? Where are the finishers? Where has all that fabled doggedness gone? Chelsea are shadows of last spring’s passion-players.
Due credit must be paid to a good Juventus side. It was always going to be hard against a keeper as experienced as Buffon, against a defence as obdurate as one marshalled by the superb Chiellini, and against Pirlo, the bearded conductor of Juventus’ quick-tempo orchestra.
Pumped up by their fans, who held banners declaring “we believe”, Juventus had stormed into Di Matteo’s side. Chelsea looked anything but European champions. It was a surprise that Juventus led only by a goal at the break.
It would have been more by then. Petr Cech, barring one mistake, was outstanding in the first half, beginning by pushing Stephan Lichtsteiner’s effort on to a post. Chelsea broke out on occasion, attacking the end containing their 1,200 fans. Branislav Ivanovic shot wide, but the alarm bells continued to ring. As the tifosi screamed Juventus forward, Gary Cahill deflected a cross into the side-netting.
Somehow, Chelsea lifted the siege for a moment. Oscar embarked on one of those elegant, sinewy slalom runs, spreading panic through Juventus’ back-pedalling defence. Eschewing the temptation to shoot, the Brazilian teased the ball through to Hazard. He connected well enough but his shot clipped Buffon’s heel and went out for a corner.
The highlights of the first half came primarily in black and white. Juventus continued to flow towards Cech’s goal. For 38 minutes, Chelsea’s back four stood firm. Ivanovic headed a Pirlo corner clear. Then David Luiz blocked Fabio Quagliarella’s cross. Cech was exceptional, making saves from Claudio Marchisio, Quagliarella and Mirko Vucinic.
Once again in these Anglo-Italian collisions of recent times, the eye kept being drawn towards Pirlo. England’s Euro 2012 nemesis was sweeping passes wide, pinging pinpoint balls through the middle. Blurs of blue were briefly seen, Ramires shooting wide and Oscar’s effort blocked by Leonardo Bonucci, but the force was with Juventus.
The pressure had to tell. Chelsea were within seven minutes of the interval but then Pirlo came calling again. Chiellini lifted the ball into Chelsea’s box, Cahill headed clear but the ball dropped to dangerous feet. Pirlo seized control, gliding away from Ramires and letting fly. Poor Cech. So indomitable until then, he was caught out. Anticipating the shot, the Chelsea keeper moved to his right and then looked with horror as Quagliarella intervened, diverting the ball the other way. Cech tried to scramble to his left, stretching out a hand but it was too weak.
Juventus almost doubled their led moments later. Ashley Cole’s positioning has rescued his team many times and he was well-placed to clear a ball from Kwadwo Asamoah that was deflecting goalwards off Luiz. Chelsea immediately counter-attacked but there was Buffon on hand to frustrate Juan Mata.
Juventus stepped up another gear in the second half. They really went for Chelsea, sensing the nerves. Just after the hour, Kwadwo Asamoah’s cutback reached Arturo Vidal, whose firm strike caught Ramires and flew past Cech.
Torres finally arrived but contributed little. As Juventus defenders tugged at shirts, impeded runs and stifled Chelsea at a couple of late corners, Cahill raged at the additional assistant referee to no avail.
Cahill could have been howling at the moon. Everything was against Chelsea. The gloom deepened at the death when the substitute Sebastien Giovinco sprinted through and slid the ball under Cech. Next up for Chelsea? The champions of England.

Match details
Juventus: Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Lichtsteiner (Caceres 68), Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Asamoah, Quagliarella (Pogba 89), Vucinic (Giovinco 83).
Subs: Storari, Pepe, Giaccherini, Matri.
Booked: Bonucci, Marchisio, Giovinco.
Goals: Quagliarella 38, Vidal 61, Giovinco 90.

Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta (Moses 60), Luiz, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cole, Ramires, Mikel (Torres 71), Hazard, Mata, Oscar.
Subs: Turnbull, Romeu, Marin, Bertrand, Piazon.
Booked: Ramires.

Att: 40,000
Referee: Ct Cakir (Turkey).


=========================

Times:

Juventus 3 Chelsea 0: Roberto Di Matteo’s men left down and almost out

By Oliver Kay

It was ten to midnight in Turin when Roberto Di Matteo emerged. He sat on a dais in the press-conference room, spoke articulately and honestly, offering to take responsibility for what had happened earlier in the evening, and went on his way.
It could hardly have felt more different to that night six months ago when Di Matteo, against all odds, led Chelsea to glory in the Champions League final. But the same could be said, even more so, about what happened on the pitch as his team, who won praise for their unyielding resilience en route to European glory, were comprehensively outthought, outfought and outplayed by a resurgent Juventus side.
Never, in the Champions League era, have a team fallen so far and so quickly. Chelsea stand on the verge of elimination. If they finish with ten points and are knocked out of the Champions League by virtue of developments in Donetsk next month, there can be no hard-luck stories — not after a night on which flaws were brutally exposed by a Juventus team who possessed the very qualities for which Chelsea were previously known.
The Juventus players had spoken beforehand of the “strong character” that exists in this Chelsea team. That character has not been seen for weeks. And while Roman Abramovich may have his own thoughts on Di Matteo’s decision to leave out Fernando Torres, who was summoned only once his team trailed 2-0 to goals from Fabio Quagliarella and Arturo Vidal, there was little to suggest that they were weaker for the £50 million man’s omission.
Chelsea are weaker for the absence of John Terry and Frank Lampard, through injury, and for the departure of Didier Drogba, but it has reached the stage where Torres, sadly, is no loss.
Di Matteo’s tactical plan, which had Juan Mata and Eden Hazard taking turns in the main attacking role ahead of Oscar, did not work particularly, but it is difficult to put their defeat down to issues of positioning. While there were times when they were outnumbered by the commanding Juventus midfield trio of Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio, what is indisputable — uncomfortably so — is that Chelsea simply looked weaker in all areas and it was hard to see how Di Matteo might have found a plan that would have covered any of those weaknesses without exposing others.
Until Sebastian Giovinco, the Juventus substitute, ran clear to score a third goal in stoppage time, it might have been possible, if viewing the match through blue-tinted spectacles, to suggest that Chelsea had fallen behind to two deflected goals — the first a clever act of diversion from Quagliarella, redirecting Pirlo’s shot in the 38th minute, and the second a cruel ricochet as Vidal’s effort bounced in off the heels of Ramires — but, truly, they did not deserve any better.
You would have to be similarly blinkered — blinkered in the way that only Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, appears to be — to blame it on the manager. It may come to suit the narrative to say that Di Matteo, sacked as West Bromwich Albion head coach less than two years ago, has been found wanting since being given the job on a permanent basis, but Chelsea are a team in transition — the terms of which were dictated by Abramovich — and are, like Manchester City, in a most unforgiving group.
Chelsea could have few complaints about their half-time deficit. They had threatened twice on the counter- attack, with Oscar doing a superb job in linking with whichever of Mata or Hazard was playing farther forward, but Juventus had attacked almost at will, passing through the centre of the pitch, through Pirlo, Vidal and Marchisio, and then looking to Stephan Lichtsteiner and Kwadwo Asamoah to stretch the play. Had Petr Cech not been in such commanding form, Juventus would have scored before they did.
On four minutes, Quagliarella picked out Lichtsteiner, unmarked at the far post, and the wing back’s close-range effort was well saved by Cech. Soon afterwards, from a well-worked corner routine, Pirlo and Mirko Vucinic combined to tee up Marchisio, whose first-time shot was repelled by the goalkeeper at the near post.
Perhaps the most disconcerting thing about Chelsea’s performance was their inability to stifle Pirlo, Vidal and Marchisio. With Oscar playing so far forward and with so little defensive cover from their front players, Di Matteo’s team were outnumbered in the middle of the pitch. John Obi Mikel and Ramires were struggling to do the work of two men, never mind three.
So energetic and full of running at his best, Ramires was off his game. It seemed unusual when he allowed Vucinic to turn on the edge of the penalty area and test Cech, but it was a portent of what was to follow. On 38 minutes, after Gary Cahill failed to get distance on a clearing header, the ball was intercepted by Pirlo, who brushed past Ramires and struck a shot that was guided in cleverly by Quagliarella, helping it on its way but ensuring that his subtle prod left Cech helpless.
Di Matteo needed to find something different. It spoke volumes that he did not, until the 71st minute, turn to Torres, with Victor Moses preferred initially. By that stage, Chelsea had fallen farther adrift after Quagliarella turned to play Asamoah into the space behind Branislav Ivanovic. Asamoah looked up and picked out Vidal, whose first-time shot deflected off Ramires past an unfortunate Cech to make it 2-0 with half an hour remaining.
Juventus closed the door, leaving Chelsea to go through the motions in a grim final half-hour. Occasionally, notably through Vucinic, they threatened a third goal, but that final indignity for Chelsea did not arrive until the first minute of stoppage time when Vidal’s pass sent Giovinco clear to prod the ball impudently past Cech.
Di Matteo said that he would take responsibility. He need not have said that — his players would not want him to — but he knows that is the way it works at Chelsea. It always has done. It is why they are locked in a cycle of boom and bust. Last night, against a fine Juventus team, they looked well and truly bust.

Juventus (3-5-2): G Buffon — A Barzagli, L Bonucci, G Chiellini — S Lichtsteiner (sub: M Caceres, 68min), A Vidal, A Pirlo, C Marchisio, K Asamoah — F Quagliarella (sub: P Pogba, 89), M Vucinic (sub: S Giovinco, 83). Substitutes not used: M Storari, E Giaccherini, S Pepe, A Matri. Booked: Bonucci, Marchisio, Giovinco.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): P Cech — B Ivanovic, G Cahill, David Luiz, A Cole — J O Mikel (sub: F Torres, 71), Ramires — C Azpilicueta (sub: V Moses, 60), Oscar, J Mata — E Hazard. Substitutes not used: R Turnbull, R Bertrand, O Romeu, M Marin, L Piazón.

Booked: Ramires.
Referee: Cüneyt Çakir (Turkey).

How they stand
Group E
Qualified Shakhtar Donetsk
Juventus will progress if they avoid defeat away to Shakhtar. If Juventus lose, Chelsea can go through by beating Nordsjaelland at home.


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Mail:

Juventus 3 Chelsea 0: On the way out... humiliated holders facing new Champions League low as Di Matteo heads for the exit
By Martin Samuel

A growing feeling of powerlessness may have overwhelmed Roberto Di Matteo as he stood, frozen, on the touchline in Turin.

The match had long passed beyond his control, the qualification process, too. After this disaster, with Shakhtar Donetsk already through, the Ukrainians could field a reserve team in their last match against Juventus, who would only need a point to  accompany them into the final 16.
Chelsea's last group game, at home to Champions League whipping boys Nordsjaelland of Denmark, could be rendered an irrelevance. It was out of his hands now.
In that case, the champions of Europe song the fans loved so much would have to go as well. We know what we are, they sing. And what they soon will be if third place in Group E beckons, as is likely. The most short-lived winners of the Champions League. The first to exit the following season at the group stage.
A place in the last 16 should be the minimum requirement for a team that paraded the biggest prize in club football around the Allianz Arena little more than six months ago.
Hell, Chelsea could be crowned world champions by FIFA next month. World champions and in the Europa League after Christmas. What part of that picture doesn't fit?
And then there were Di Matteo's own prospects, his chances of  seeing out the season as Chelsea manager. That was where he had least power of all. Everyone knew who called the shots at Stamford Bridge, and it wasn't him.
So Di Matteo stood, dressed to kill as coach of one of the most important clubs in world football, and he had all the power over his position of a first-week apprentice.
Di Matteo gambled big in Turin but the scoreline revealed a busted flush. By leaving out Fernando Torres, even with Daniel Sturridge injured, he had hoped to challenge Juventus with a fast-moving, flowing forward line, spearheaded by Eden Hazard. It failed.

Chelsea did not get enough game in Juventus' half and were driven back for most of the night. The first two Juve goals had a smidgeon of good fortune but the third made Chelsea appear foolish, and merely underlined the gulf between the teams.

It went deeper than simply missing John Terry, Frank Lampard or even Didier Drogba; Chelsea came up short everywhere. Petr Cech was outstanding at times to keep Chelsea in the game, but was ultimately overwhelmed by the sheer weight of Juventus attacks. He was unlucky with two deflections, but the third left him exposed.

Juve won the game in midfield. Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio, either side of Andrea Pirlo, were the stars of the night and the Italians got far too much joy down the flanks.
Chelsea threatened occasionally on the break, but no more. Their struggles are often attributed to the end of an era of hugely influential players. Drogba gone, Lampard ageing, Terry and Ashley Cole in their twilight years. Yet Cech soldiers on, captain last night, and without him the score could have been embarrassing.
The game was only three minutes old when he was forced to make a brilliant save from Stephan Lichtsteiner, and it set the tone for the night. In the 15th minute, he needed to be at his best again: a short corner by Pirlo, teed up by Mirko Vucinic and struck by Marchisio, kept out by Cech, diving low.
Other duties were comparatively straightforward, the odd long-range effort from Pirlo or Fabio Quagliarella, but Cech's handling was excellent. It was no surprise that when Juventus did finally break the deadlock it was as much by luck as judgment.

Pirlo hit an optimistic shot from outside the area which Cech had covered until Quagliarella intervened, diverting it with a glancing blow that left the goalkeeper frantically changing direction, but in vain. He got a hand to it, but this was not enough and Juventus were ahead. Could Cech have done better? The images were not flattering. Yet given the form he was in last night it would be most out of character to err in this way. More than any Chelsea player, he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Juventus Stadium erupted. It really is a love-in here these days. The hated Stadio delle Alpi with its mood-killing running track and cavernous empty spaces is now flat, replaced by a shiny compact new arena.
Judging by the atmosphere at last night's game, the club has rarely felt so at one with its fans. Raucous and close to the action, suddenly Juventus are a football club again rather than this strangely stateless institution, as popular in the south of the country as they were in their own city.
Chelsea were restricted to isolated counter-attacking chances, although one at least touched the realms of the truly spectacular. It came in the ninth minute when Juan Mata fed Oscar who went on a mesmerising 60-yard run, eluding at least three Juventus players and finishing by feeding the ball to Eden Hazard who should have done more with his shot, tipped round by Gianluigi Buffon in the Juve goal.
On the bench, Torres no doubt consoled himself that he could have dealt with it better, but he couldn't. That was why he was on the bench. Introduced late in the game for John Mikel Obi, he made negligible difference.
A botched clearance from David Luiz - is there any other kind? - had to be cleared from the line by Cole or Chelsea could have gone in at half time two down, but Juventus did not have to wait an age for the goal that sealed victory.
Kwadwo Asamoah made another powerful run down the left and cut the ball back precisely for the late-arriving Vidal, whose shot struck Ramires, diverting the ball through the legs of Cech. By the end, even Chelsea's mighty goalkeeper was rattled.

When substitute Sebastian Giovinco sprung the high-line defence, there really was no need for him to come chasing off his line quite so dramatically, with Cole covering. It made Giovinco's mind up and he finished first-time from 30 yards.
At that moment, it became Chelsea's biggest defeat in Europe in 12 years. They weren't reigning champions then, however, and the Roman Abramovich years were still to come. So this is a big one. A landmark.
Just the thought of playing Juventus cost Luiz Felipe Scolari his job in 2009 because Abramovich was not convinced his coach would beat them. The reality may do for Di Matteo now.
This is a record defeat in Europe for Abramovich era Chelsea, but one man has the power to address that, and no doubt will. It's not the manager, by the way.

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Mirror:

Juventus 3-0 Chelsea Chumpions League:

Holders Chelsea on verge of Euro exit after Juventus defeat
by Martin Lipton
Roberto Di Matteo dropped Torres and saw his side lose 3-0

The world fell in on Roberto Di Matteo and Chelsea last night.
But we all know it will be the manager, not his players, who will carry the can.
Six months ago, the Italian was the King of Europe.
Now, he looks a wounded animal, simply waiting to be put out of his misery, the biggest call of his managerial career likely to prove the fatal one.
Losing to Juventus, leaving Chelsea in need of a miracle next month to avoid the humiliation of becoming the first Champions League holders not to make the knock-out phase, might have been enough for Roman Abramovich to pull the trigger.
The Russian doesn't believe in hard-luck stories, does not accept excuses.
Ask Luiz Felipe Scolari, Avram Grant, Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas.
But when a miserable, comprehensive and embarrassing defeat comes after the owner's £50million vanity purchase is left kicking his heels on the bench for 70 minutes, it starts to look like a question of when, not if, the trigger is pulled.
Once Di Matteo had decided to leave out Fernando Torres as big a call as Villas-Boas' suicide note team without Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard in Naples it had to go right.
Eden Hazard the striker in a team without a forward after Daniel Sturridge twanged a hamstring in training needed to score, not miss his great chance after nine minutes.
Cesar Azpilicueta and Juan Mata had to play as auxiliary defenders closing the door to Juventus, not leaving the flanks wide open and exposed.
David Luiz was under pressure to demonstrate he is a leader in preparation, not an permanent defensive accident waiting to happen.
Above all, Di Matteo desperately required each and every one of his players to grow a pair, show the desire, heart and courage that took Chelsea to the ultimate glory in Munich in May.
Instead, in each and every department, they fell horribly, appallingly short, only Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and briefly Oscar ready to put themselves on the line for the manager.
That all adds up to what Di Matteo saw developing in front of his disbelieving eyes, a team falling apart, disintegrating, run ragged and left bereft of all but the merest scintilla of hope.
Now it is 21 goals conceded in 10 games, two wins and four defeats in their last eight, all with Manchester City to come on Sunday.
And with Di Matteo still missing John Terry and Frank Lampard, with Didier Drogba just a memory, it could go on for a long time yet.
The reality is that Chelsea now need a miracle in a fortnight, for Shakhtar Donetsk, already through, to beat Juventus in Ukraine, for their game with Nordsjaelland to mean anything.
In truth, too, they can have no complaints. Without Victor Moses. 94th minute winner against the Ukrainians two weeks ago it would already be over and done with.
Maybe, maybe, had Hazard, set up by Oscar after a thrilling slalom run by the Brazilian, had buried between Gigi Buffon's legs rather that see the ball hit the side-netting, it might have been different.
It was hard, though, to make a case for that.
Even before then, only a terrific point-blank save by Cech to turn Stephan Lichtsteiner's volley against the post had prevented Juve taking the lead.
And by the time Fabio Quagliarella's instincts saw his deliberately divert Andrea Pirlo's scudding strike past the wrong-footed Cech for the opener, the pattern had been set.
Chelsea flickered but only peripherally, Mata miscontrolling when the Blues broke in the immediate aftermath of Cole's outstanding goalline clearance.
Kwadwo Asamoah, though, was destroying both Branislav Ivanovic and the hapless Azpilicueta and there was an inevitability about the second, coming just after the hour.
Mirko Vucinic who might have had three himself as he ran Luiz ragged fed Asamoah, the pull-back teed up Arturo Vidal, whose right-footer pinged off Ramires, hopeless all night, to leave Cech stranded.
Enter Torres, for 20 minutes of ineffectual, ineffective self-indulgence, with Juventus always more like to score a third than Chelsea to mount a salvage operation.
Any hope of that was ended in the last minute, substitute Sebastian Giovinco galloping through a gap as wide as the nearby River Po to prod Vidal's pass past Cech and into the vacant net.
Chelsea's fall from grace will be completed on December 5. You wonder how much longer Di Matteo will last?
Not long, it seems.


====================


Sun:
Juventus 3 Chelsea 0
By MARK IRWIN

ROBERTO DI MATTEO’S Euro luck finally ran out last night as Chelsea were left peering over the edge of a Champions League precipice.

Fabio Quagliarella, Arturo Vidal and Sebastian Giovinco’s goals mean the defending champions are down to third in Group E and no longer in control of their own destiny.

Even victory in their final game at home to Nordsjaelland will be meaningless if Juventus dodge defeat against a Shakhtar Donetsk team already in the last 16.

And it leaves Di Matteo facing renewed questions over his future after his tactical shake-up failed spectacularly in Turin last night.

It was Di Matteo who masterminded the backs-to-the-wall victories against Barcelona and Bayern Munich last term to become the first Chelsea manager to win the European Cup.

But a third triumph against all the odds proved beyond the Italian, who is now in severe danger of losing his grip on his job... and the famous trophy he lifted just six months ago.

For Chelsea were simply overrun by a rampant Juventus team, who had too much class and desire.
Without Didier Drogba, John Terry and Frank Lampard, the heart and fighting spirit of the team which has stood Chelsea in such good stead in Europe is sadly missing these days.

Not quite so missed was record buy Fernando Torres, who stayed on the bench until the 71st minute.

And by then, the game was up for Chelsea. The general view in Turin was that it was a brave move by Di Matteo to leave out owner Roman Abramovich’s £50million pet project.

But in many ways it was a no-brainer from the Chelsea boss, who knows going out of the Champions League prematurely will be far more damaging to his long-term prospects than upsetting one under- performing player.

After all, Torres had been given more than enough opportunities to prove his worth to the team and failed to take any of them. The Spanish international has been little more than an observer in recent games and, with European qualification on the line, there was no room for passengers last night.

Of course, it was a gamble which many will now say has backfired. Lose with Torres in the team and it’s bad news. Lose without him and the consequences for the manager are far more severe.

Yet even when Daniel Sturridge was ruled out by a hamstring injury sustained in training on Monday night, there was no going back on the decision to start with Torres on the bench.

Instead, Chelsea went with Eden Hazard alone up front as a ‘false No 9’. Still, anything was better than the fake striker who actually wears the No 9 shirt. As it turned out, it was not that much of a radical shake-up by Di Matteo. For while the personnel may have changed, the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation remained.

What it did mean was Cesar Azpilicueta occupying one of the three forward roles to give better defensive cover and Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic, Juan Mata, Oscar and Ramires all returning.

After conceding 17 goals in their previous eight games, Chelsea were in desperate need of a rare clean sheet last night.

But they could have been behind after just four minutes when Stephan Lichtsteiner got in a close-range volley which Petr Cech turned against his near post.

Cech was soon required again as he threw himself across his goal to turn away Claudio Marchisio’s viciously swerving shot. Juventus, who had to win to stand any real chance of qualifying, were finding gaps with alarming ease.

And the Italian champions were roared on by a 40,000 capacity crowd in their magnificent new stadium. But Chelsea did have one fine chance on the counter.

Oscar beat three men and teed up Hazard but the stand-in striker went for an extra touch and Gianluigi Buffon swiftly snuffed out the chance.

It was only a brief respite and, on 38 minutes, the visitors caved in.
Andrea Pirlo dispossessed Oscar and chanced his luck from range before Quagliarella’s deliberate deflection wrong-footed keeper Cech.

It was a mortal blow to Chelsea’s hopes. Cole did hack another off the line but his heroics were only delaying the inevitable.

And the game was up after 61 minutes when Asamoah pulled the ball back for Vidal, whose shot beat Cech with a deflection off Ramires.

Giovinco added a third in stoppage time and now the day of reckoning is approaching for Di Matteo — quicker than he might realise.

STAR MAN — PIRLO (JUVENTUS)

JUVENTUS: Buffon 7, Barzagli 6, Bonucci 7, Chiellini 7, Lichtsteiner 7, Vidal 7, Pirlo 8, Marchisio 6, Asamoah 8, Quagliarella 7, Vucinic 7. Subs: Not used: Storari, Pepe, Giaccherini, Matri. Booked: Bonucci, Marchisio, Giovinco.
CHELSEA: Cech 8, Azpilicueta 5, Luiz 5, Cahill 6, Ivanovic 6, Cole 7, Ramires 5, Mikel 6, Hazard 6, Mata 6, Oscar 7. Subs: Moses (Azpilicueta 60) 5, Torres (Mikel 71) 5. Not used: Turnbull, Bertrand, Romeu, Marin, Piazon. Booked: Ramires.


======================

Express:
It looks all over for defending champions

By Tony Banks


IT WAS a bold plan and possibly a foolhardy one, but last night the only fact that mattered was that it all failed spectacularly for Roberto Di Matteo.

History tells us that after failures such as this, there is only one person that carries the can in the Roman Abramovich era. It is not the players. It is the manager. Just ask Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti or Andre Villas-Boas.
The clock is ticking for Di Matteo and, unless he wins the World Club Cup in Japan next month and stages a revival in the league, time could run out for him even before Christmas. That might not even be enough after this abject surrender.
Chelsea are not yet out of the Champions League, the trophy that Di Matteo won amid such glory just six months ago. But nobody is fooled. The dream is as good as over. They have still not yet become the first defending champions to crash out at the group stage, but they now need a real shock.

They need to beat Nordsjaelland in their final match and pray that Shakhtar Donetsk - already through - overcome Juventus, who need a point, to give them any chance. But Chelsea 'know' they are going to be squeezed out.
Right now, Di Matteo's bold decision to leave £50million misfit Fernando Torres on the bench last night in the Juventus Stadium looks like the decision that may finish him off.
If you are going to make a call like that, leaving out the owner's vanity buy, it simply has to work. The Italian made some brave gambles last year that worked. But luck only lasts so long.

Goals from Fabio Quagliarella, Arturo Vidal and substitute Sebastian Giovinco did the damage, as Di Matteo's experimental line-up was torn apart by an excellent Juventus side. Welcome to the Europa League, Chelsea. Straight into the last 32 they will almost certainly go now in February.
 And Abramovich won't like that. He wants to bring Pep Guardiola, the man who resisted his overtures last summer, to Stamford Bridge.
 Di Matteo was the fall-back, the man he could not ignore. Now though, the overtures to the Spaniard will increase in volume. If Guardiola will not come until the summer, then expect a stopgap, possibly Rafa Benitez, to be brought in to steady the ship.
 With Torres's miserable form only getting worse, notching only one goal in his past seven matches, Di Matteo's decision in such a huge, season-defining match, was a courageous one, especially with Daniel Sturridge sidelined by injury.
 Instead of using Torres, a vastly experienced player even if woefully out of touch, Di Matteo chose to play £32m Belgian Eden Hazard as a "withdrawn" striker, with Spanish full-back Cesar Azpilicueta pushed into midfield. There was no recognised striker on the pitch.
 It was a statement by Di Matteo that also surely signalled the end of Torres's unhappy 22 months in West London. Rarely can any player's stock have fallen so far, so quickly.
 Chelsea started shakily but when the dam finally broke it was the peerless Andrea Pirlo who breached it. Somehow he found space to strike a low shot and Quagliarella skilfully guided the ball beyond goalkeeper Petr Cech.
 Ashley Cole had to clear off the line as another calamity threatened, but at the other end Juan Mata almost levelled when he shot straight at keeper Gianluigi Buffon, before Chelsea faded dismally as an attacking force. Di Matteo threw on Victor Moses for Azpilicueta as he tried desperately to give his side more strength in attack, but within a minute it was all over.
 Kwado Asamoah pulled back the ball, and Vidal's shot took a deflection off Ramires as it sped into the net.
 Torres was thrown on in the end, for John Obi Mikel, with desperate measures needed. But it was too little, too late.
 In injury time, Ramires's misplaced pass left Chelsea woefully short of cover, and Giovinco raced through before beating Cech easily. Embarrassment had turned into humiliation because Chelsea were just not good enough.
 The brave new-era team that was put together with £80m worth of spending last summer, failed its first test. The manager, though, is the man who will pay the price.


===============================

Star:

CHELSEA EMBARRASSMENT TURNS TO HUMILIATION AS ROBERTO DI MATTEO'S BRAVE PLAN BACK-FIRES
Juventus 3 Chelsea 0

By George Scott

IT WAS a brave plan, possibly a stupid plan, but last night the only fact that mattered was that it was one that failed spectacularly for Roberto Di Matteo.

 History tells us that after failures such as this, there is only one person that carries the can at Stamford Bridge in the Roman Abramovich era.
 It is not the players. It is the manager. Ask Avram Grant, ask Luiz Felipe Scolari, ask Carlo Ancelotti, ask Andre Villas-Boas.
 The clock is ticking for Di Matteo and unless he wins the World Club Cup in Japan next month and stages a revival in the Premier League time could run out for him even before Christmas.
 However, even that might not be enough after this abject surrender.
 Chelsea are not yet out of the Champions League - the trophy that Di Matteo won with such glory just six months ago.
 But nobody is fooled. The dream is as good as over. They have not yet become the first defending champions to crash out at the group stage, but they need a miracle.
 Chelsea need to beat Nordsjaelland in their final game in a fortnight and pray that Shakhtar Donetsk, already through, beat Juventus, who need a point to qualify.
 Chelsea know they will almost certainly be squeezed out.
 Right now, Di Matteo's decision to leave £50m misfit Fernando Torres on the bench last night looks like the one that may end his reign. If you are going leave the owner's vanity buy out, it is a call that has to work.
 The Italian made some brave gambles last year that worked. But luck only lasts so long.
Goals from Fabio Quagliarella, Arturo Vidal and substitute Sebastian Giovinco did the damage, as Di Matteo's experimental line-up was torn apart.
 Welcome to the Europa League, Chelsea. Straight into the last 32 they will almost certainly go now in February. Roman won't like that.
 Abramovich wants to bring Pep Guardiola, the man who resisted his overtures last summer, to Stamford Bridge, with Jose Mourinho also letting it be known he would be open to a return. Di Matteo was the fallback, the man he could not ignore.
 Now though, the overtures to the Spaniard will increase.
 If Guardiola will not come until the summer, then expect a stop-gap, possibly Rafa Benitez, to be brought in.
 Instead of using Torres, a vastly experienced player even if woefully out of touch, Di Matteo chose to employ £32m Belgian Eden Hazard as a withdrawn striker, with Spanish full-back Cesar Azpilicueta pushed into midfield.
 There was no recognised striker on the pitch, with Daniel Sturridge injured.
 Chelsea started shakily as Andrea Pirlo's chip found Stephan Lichtsteiner lurking, but keeper Petr Cech turned the ball brilliantly on to the post and away.
 Oscar then went on a mazy break, beating three players in a brilliant run, before setting up Hazard for a shot that was superbly saved by Gianluigi Buffon.
 But the pressure was relentless, as Cech foiled Claudio Marchisio and Quagliarella twice.
 However, the dam had to break and it was the peerless Pirlo who breached it.
 Somehow he found space to strike a low shot and Quagliarella guided the ball past a wrong-footed Cech.
 Ashley Cole had to clear off the line as calamity threatened, then Juan Mata almost levelled, just failing to beat Buffon.
 Mata saw his free-kick from the edge of the area blocked as another chance went begging, but Chelsea then faded as an attacking force.
 Cech tipped Pirlo's shot round the post, then superbly saved from Quagliarella.
 Di Matteo threw on Victor Moses for Azpilicueta as he tried desperately to give his side more strength in attack, but within a minute it was all over.
 Kwado Asamoah pulled the ball back and Vidal's shot took a deflection off Ramires as it sped into the net.
 Torres was thrown on in the end for John Obi Mikel, with desperate measures needed, but it was too little, too late.
 In injury-time, Giovinco dashed through and easily beat Cech, who had raced out of his area in desperation.
 Embarrassment had turned into humiliation.

JUVENTUS: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Lichtsteiner (Caceres 68); Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Asamoah; Quagliarella (Pogba 89); Vucinic (Giovinco 83). Subs: Storari, Pepe, Giaccherini, Matri.

CHELSEA: Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cole; Ramires, Mikel (Torres 71); Azpilicueta (Moses 60), Hazard, Mata; Oscar. Subs: Turnbull, Romeu, Marin, Bertrand, Piazon.
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).