Chiellini winner puts Juve back on track

Juventus laboured to an unspectacular 1-0 win over 10-man Group A minnows Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League here on Wednesday.

Centre-back Giorgio Chiellini scored the only goal of a disappointing game played in front of a pitifully small crowd of less than 19,000 and in gloomy, rainy conditions.

The win did at least propel the Italian giants into second position in a tough group also containing Bayern Munich and Bordeaux as they now have five points from three games.

That leaves them second and two points behind Bordeaux with three more games to play, a position Juve coach Ciro Ferrara is happy with.

“For us the win was important, not what happened in the other match (Bordeaux beat Bayern),” he said.

“It’s a group that seems to be very close, the Champions League is very tight, we saw that yesterday with some results that no-one expected.

“Of course we could have done better but we have the number of points that we deserve.

“I’m very satisfied with tonight and also the points we have in the standings. Things are looking good.”

Haifa coach Elisha Levi felt his team could have got more out of the game.

“We played well but we can’t get carried away because we haven’t got anything out of it,” he said.

“Of course I’m a bit bitter about the result but I can’t but be satisfied with this young team who played with a lot of commitment.”

Ferrara took a gamble before the game began by changing his formation and playing bit-part Frenchman David Trezeguet as a lone forward with three midfielders behind him.

The idea was to leave Diego free to roam in the centre and hence cause more problems, but that hardly happened in an insipid first half.

Maccabi should have gone in front on two minutes when a cross from Eyal Meshumar found Georgia striker Vladimir Dvalishvili unmarked eight yards out but although his header was well placed, Gianluigi Buffon made a brilliant one-handed save.

Chances were few and far between with Maccabi goalkeeper Nir Davidovitch beating away a Fabio Grosso free-kick on 9min.

Trezeguet should have done better when Grosso’s cross found him seven yards out but the former France forward poked the ball well wide of the far post after Maccabi’s defence had gone wandering on 20 minutes.

Lior Rafaelov lashed a wild shot over the bar for Haifa and Momo Sissoko headed a Mauro Camoranesi free-kick wide while Diego ended the half by sending a direct free-kick wide before the referee mercifully brought a drab period to a close.

The game needed a goal and it got one two minutes after the restart as Diego’s curling free-kick from the left was headed home by Chiellini – although questions will be asked of a Haifa defence and goalkeeper that allowed him a free header from two yards.

Shortly after Diego almost added a second but his delectable chip just cleared the bar with Davidovitch beaten.

Juve started to really boss the game and Davidovitch blocked Trezeguet’s close range shot on the slide from an inviting Grosso cross before he dived full length to stop Sebastian Giovinco’s fierce effort.

Any chance Maccabi had of salvaging something ended in the 69th minute with a very questionable decision by the referee who gave Tiago Dutra a straight red card for a 50-50 challenge with Chiellini.

Even so Dvalishvili stung Buffon’s hands with a late effort that had Juve’s fans holding their breath before Camoranesi hit the post for Juve.

There was still time for Buffon to make another fine save from Mohammad Ghadir deep into time added on.