Alessandro Del Piero scored a stunning goal as injury-ravaged Juventus defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in a gripping Champions League Group H clash at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin. The build-up to the most prestigious game in the 2008/09 Champions League group stages was completely overshadowed by the tragic death of two Juve fans who lost their lives earlier this afternoon after the bus they were travelling on from Switzerland crashed on its way to Turin, also leaving around 20 injured, some of them seriously. The game went ahead as planned although, as a sign of respect, there was a minute's silence prior to kick-off. Juventus came into the match in real crisis, having not won for five games, including successive Serie A defeats to Palermo and Genoa, which had seen them drop down to 12th in the Campionato, seven points off the pace. Coach Claudio Ranieri was on the brink of the sack and had a whole host of injuries to deal with, as Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Tiago, Cristiano Zanetti, Jonathan Zebina, David Trézéguet and Jorge Andrade were all out. However, Nicola Legrottaglie, Olof Mellberg and Vicenzo Iaquinta were all available again. Legrottaglie immediately returned to the line-up alongside Giorgio Chiellini in defence. Ranieri went for an experienced starting XI, with Alessandro Del Piero and Amauri in attack, and Sebastian Giovinco only on the bench again. Real Madrid, on the other hand, were in buoyant mood following their dramatic derby victory over Atletico at the weekend, sealed by Gonzalo Higuain's last gasp penalty. With Zenit St Petersburg only drawing at home against BATE earlier this evening, leaving both sides on one and two points respectively in Group H, Madrid, who were already on a maximum of six points, knew that a win here would as good as qualify them for the knockout stages. Coach Bernd Schuster was without the injured Mahamadou Diarrà, Guti and Miguel Torres though, while Míchel Salgado and Javier Saviola were overlooked for technical reasons. Arjen Robben returned from a hamstring problem and was on the bench, while Raul, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Higuain all played in an attacking 4-3-3 Madrid line-up. Italy national team captain and Calcio legend, Fabio Cannavaro, returned to play against his old team. Juventus had the first chance of the game as Amauri lost his man inside the area, but his header from a right wing cross was weak and straight at Iker Casillas. The Bianconeri were really fired up, and took the lead after just five minutes thanks to a stunning goal from Del Piero. A fine team move ended with Amauri playing the ball to Del Piero, and the 'Golden Boy' whipped a magnificent right footed curling effort into the top corner from 25 yards. Casillas did not move. Madrid had their first attempt of the game on 10 minutes as Rafael Van der Vaart let fly with a ferocious left-footed effort from 30 yards that finished a couple of yards over. It was a gripping match that you just could not take your eyes off. Del Piero almost threaded through for Pavel Nedved, while down the other end Van der Vaart forced Alex Manninger into his first save with a tame central effort. The Dutchman was Madrid's most dangerous player in the early stages, and he had his third shot of the game on 21 minutes linking up well with Van Nistelrooy before firing wide from the edge of the area. Another Oranje, Wesley Sneijder, also got in on the act, as he hashed the ball horribly over, while Amauri launched a counter-attack for Juve, but was cynically taken out by Sergio Ramos. Amauri then had a fine chance to make it two as he nipped in front of Pepe from Zdenek Grygera's cross, but headed wide. Madrid were starting to enjoy more and more possession though, and Sergio Ramos wasted a great opening when he miscontrolled a cross from the right, allowing Manninger to rush off his line and dive onto the ball. On 36 minutes Juventus received a big blow though as Claudio Marchisio was stretchered off the pitch in some distress after picking up an injury in the middle of the field. He was replaced by Hasan Salihamidzic, thus leaving Juve with a rather unfamiliar midfield line-up. However, they preserved their lead comfortably for the remainder of the half as Real Madrid went in at half time having failed to create a single decent chance. If Juve's injury problems couldn't get any worse, at half time they lost yet another player as Legrottaglie, only just returning, was forced off with a muscular problem, and was replaced by Olof Mellberg, who himself had just exited the infirmary. However, all these problems did not hold the Bianconeri back as they doubled their lead on 48 minutes as Nedved lifted the ball up to the back post, and Amauri rose high to head past Casillas, with the ball taking a deflection off Gabriel Heinze, who had turned his back. Madrid tried to find a way back into the game, but they were decidedly off the pace. Van der Vaart sliced well over, before Schuster made his first change of the game, introducing Robben for Higuain. On 55 minutes the Spaniards created their best chance of the match so far as Van der Vaart was left completely unmarked at the near post from Sneijder's left-field cross, but he headed disappointingly wide from six yards out. Robben then also had an excellent headed opportunity from a left-wing free kick, and he glanced the ball a yard wide, with Manninger rooted to his goal line. Madrid were really threatening now, and Manninger flung to his right to make a smart stop from Sneijder's 25-yard piledriver. Van Nistelrooy then saw a shot on the turn deflected weakly into the arms of the Austrian goalkeeper. Schuster's men were raining in shots at Manninger's goal, and just past the hour mark Sneijder crashed a shot against the outside of the post with a rocket from distance. On 65 minutes Van der Vaart forced another save out of Manninger from a free kick, but a Madrid goal was now inevitable. It arrived seconds later as Van Nistelorooy was left completely unmarked in the middle, and he headed clinically into the corner from Heinze's cross. Juventus had their first attempt since Amauri's goal, on 68 minutes, as Casillas comfortably smothered Del Piero's daisycutter of a free kick. Amauri then did some brilliant hold-up play, and he laid the ball off to Nedved, whose left footed shot did not trouble Casillas. Madrid continued to be on the front-foot, and Robben let fly from 35 yards, before Ranieri made his final substitution of the evening on 77 minutes, withdrawing Amauri for Iaquinta. Drenthe entered the fray for the visitors in place of Van der Vaart. Salihamidzic ran rings around Sergio Ramos down the left, and appeared to be held back inside the area, but the referee waved play on and Madrid escaped. The away side were no longer threatening now, and they barely looked like creating any problems in the last 15 minutes of the game. In injury time Sneijder had a free kick blocked, but Juve held on to win. Ranieri saved his job, and Juventus now move to the top of Group H with seven points from three games, above Madrid who have six. BATE are in third with two points, and Zenit St Petersburg bottom with just one point.

Pressure is mounting on coach Claudio Ranieri as his stumbling Juventus side host nine-times European champions Real Madrid in Turin in the standout clash of Tuesday’s Champions League ties. Real are top of Group H with maximum points and Juve are also well-placed with four points from two matches although defeat would leave them vulnerable. Two consecutive Serie A defeats have left Juventus stuck in mid-table and they are not helped by the absence of striker David Trezeguet and keeper Gianluigi Buffon with injuries. Elsewhere on Tuesday, defending champions Manchester United and Celtic meet at Old Trafford in Group E with the Scottish side looking to end a demoralising away run in the Champions League that reads 17 defeats and one draw in 18 trips. The top two meet in Group F when Bayern Munich host Fiorentina. Bayern hope to have Italian striker Luca Toni fit after suffering a rib injury. In Group G, leaders Arsenal travel to Istanbul to play Fenerbahce, their first meeting with Turkish opposition since 2000 when they were beaten by Galatasaray in the UEFA Cup final in Copenhagen.

The Spanish champions will go head to head with their fierce European nemesis on Tuesday and while there’s never any love lost between the two on the pitch, there’s never any shortage of respect and admiration off it.

Real Madrid captain and icon, Raúl González Blanco is the latest to heap praise on the Bianconeri, despite the club having to experience a nightmarish past few years due to the Calciopoli scandal and also having to endure a severe slump at present.

“First of all, it will be special because it’s the Champions League and because we are facing one of the greatest clubs in Europe and the world,” the ‘Number 7’ said during the pre-match interviews.

“I believe that it will be a great spectacle and both teams will be fighting it out for a win,” he added

The 31 year old forward does not believe that the Juve players will be affected much by their current crisis.

“They are not going through a good spell at the moment, but I believe in big games like these, everyone wants to play at their best."

“They have a great team and it will be very difficult to win here, but we enter the match

Real Madrid secured a hard-fought three points in St Petersburg as an own goal and an effort from Ruud van Nistelrooy gave them a 2-1 win. The hosts did everything they could in the second half to draw level, but could not find a way through.

Real Madrid were desperate to end their seven game winless streak away from home and they found themselves on the right track when they went infront through an own goal by Zenit centreback Hubocan.

Danny managed to equalize for the hosts in the 24^th minute but all their hardwork went straight down the drain when the visitors restored their lead just six minutes later through goalscorer extra-ordinaire, van Nistelrooy.

The champions of Russia will lock horns with the champions of Spain on Tuesday to get Matchweek Two of Europe’s blue ribbon competition underway in an earlier than usual kick-off.

Climbing To The Zenith

Zenit announced themselves in Russian football when they won their first ever league crown in 2007. And it didn’t take them long to herald their arrival in the continent when they stormed past some of Europe’s experienced campaigners to lift the UEFA Cup earlier this year in May and then followed that up by adding the UEFA Supercup to their trophy collection a month ago.

What’s even more impressive is that they are a side who are not afraid to play attractive, attacking football to get results and achieve success. It’s an admirable approach for a team who, prior to their triumphs in Europe, were still very much considered a minnow outside of their own country.

Their coach, Dick Advocaat has instilled a typically Dutch methodology to their game. Defend as one, attack as one, they play a brand of slick, one-touch passing football but they also have the individual brilliance who can single-handedly turn games around.

Zenit are the first Russian team without the word ‘Moscow’ attached to their club name to play in the Champions League group stage. But the Sine-belo-golubye appear slightly out of their depth as they find it difficult competing in two major tournaments.

They are struggling domestically and they look in danger of missing out on European football altogether next season. They currently lie in sixth place in the Rosgosstrakh Russian Championship, a massive 14 points behind runaway leaders, Rubin Kazan, seven away from the runners-up spot – which would give them entry to the next Champions League preliminaries – and two shy of the UEFA Cup qualification zone with just seven rounds to go.

Although they have a game in hand against most of their direct rivals, the distractions of the Champions League would almost certainly cancel out any advantage they may have. But last weekend’s impressive 0-3 win over Lokomotiv Moscow has given them the morale boost they have been looking for to take into the clash against the nine-time European champions.

Two Shades Of White

There’s no secret that Real Madrid are desperate to attain the Holy Grail that is ‘Number 10’. They have failed miserably in recent years despite promise of success but many a fan and pundit believe this could be their season.

One of the signs to back up that claim is that Los Blancos are finally showing that they have two very different dimensions to their game: the side that knows how to attack and play good football – like the one that devoured Sporting Gijón 7-1 – and the side that is full of fighting spirit and a never-say-die attitude, such as the gritty team that pinched a 1-2 win at Real Betis a few days ago.

The victory at the Ruiz de Lopera was their fifth win in succession in all competitions this campaign and while the results continue to fall their way nicely, they are also going from strength to strength performance-wise.

Recent games have demonstrated that coach, Bernd Schuster has mastered the art of altering his tactics, strategy and formation based on the opponents and the circumstances, unlike the one-track Madrid team over the last five years or so that clung to the simple-minded philosophy of out-scoring an opponent.

The Spanish giants will use current European champions, Manchester United as a good case study to illustrate how a team needs to have a multi-faceted game plan to achieve glory. Last season, the Red Devils hardly looked convincing on their travels all competition long but they always did enough to get their desired result. 

And it’s a good thing, too, that Schuster has taken the last few La Liga outings to fine-tune the team’s away game stratagem. The merengues have not won on the road in this competition in almost two years. Their last triumph was in October 2006 when they beat Steaua Bucharest 1-4 and ever since then, they have drawn three and lost three.

Madrid do not have the best record against Russian opposition in Russia either and they will need to implement and execute that game plan swiftly and flawlessly if they are to snap their poor away form against a very ambitious Zenit side.

FORM GUIDE

Zenit St. Petersburg

Sep 27 Lokomotiv Moscow 0-3 Zenit (ROSGOSSTRAKH)

Sep 21 Zenit 1-3 CSKA Moscow FC (ROSGOSSTRAKH)

Sep 17 Juventus 1-0 Zenit (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)

Sep 13 Terek Groznyi 1-4 Zenit (ROSGOSSTRAKH)

Aug 29 Manchester Utd 1-2 Zenit (UEFA SUPER CUP)

Real Madrid

Sep 27 Real Betis 1-2 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)

Sep 24 Real Madrid 7-1 Sporting Gijón (LA LIGA)

Sep 21 Racing Santander 0-2 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)

Sep 17 Real Madrid 2-0 BATE Borisov (CHAMPIONS LEAGUE)

Sep 14 Real Madrid 4-3 Numancia (LA LIGA)

TEAM NEWS

Zenit St. Petersburg

Coach Advocaat does not have any suspension issues to worry about and he will also welcome back a few important figures. Midfielder Roman Shirokov has recovered from a calf injury and returned to training at the weekend while Turkish forward Fatih Tekke is also back in contention after shrugging off a thigh ailment.

The pair could still be lacking in match fitness while Belgian defender Nicolas Lombaerts is still sidelined with a long term knee problem.

Probable Starting XI (4-3-2-1): Malafeev – Anyukov, Krizanac, Puygrenier, Siri – Zyryanov, Tymoschuk (c) Denisov – Danny, Arshavin - Pogrebnyak

Real Madrid

Pepe and Rubén de la Red were suspended for the opening game against BATE due to sanctions carried over from last season but both will be available again for selection. Fabio Cannavaro should also be reinstated to the team after being rested at the weekend but midfield trio Wesley Sneijder, Fernando Gago and Guti are all still out injured.

Schuster’s biggest headache is to decide who between four key players he has to drop to from the attacking trident. Raúl could be the one to take the sacrifice this time after starting the last four games.

Probable Starting XI (4-3-3): Casillas (c) – Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Pepe, Heinze – Van der Vaart, Diarrà, De la Red – Higuaín, Van Nistelrooy, Robben

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Zenit St. Petersburg

No prizes for guessing who the two big key players will be for Zenit. Playmakers Andrei Arshavin and Danny, who will likely feed off the lone striker, are two very dangerous and influential figures and they will be relied on heavily to bring mayhem to the Real Madrid backline.

Real Madrid

The constant unsung hero Mahamadou Diarrà will have the privilege of disrupting the Arshavin-Danny combination. He will be helped by the versatile Rubén de la Red but the youngster will also be in charge of bringing the ball forward and conducting the team’s attacking play from midfield. It’s a massive undertaking for the 23 year old.

Newcomers BATE Borisov got away lightly with a 2-0 defeat against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in their Champions League debut in Group H on Wednesday.

Sergio Ramos gave the nine-times European champions an early lead and they threatened an avalanche of goals but BATE held firm until early in the second half.

Ruud van Nistelrooy doubled the advantage with his 54th goal in the competition and any thoughts of a fightback by the team from Belarus effectively disappeared when defender Anri Khagush was sent off soon after.

BATE battled away but the gulf in class was clear and only Real’s profligacy in front of goal and a string of saves from Sergei Veremko prevented a heavier defeat.

“Seeing the start we made I expected us to score more goals so I am disappointed. After our first goal we could see BATE could not react, and we needed to have scored a second and third at that point,” Real coach Bernd Schuster said.

“As it was we had to start all over again. I didn’t like the way we eased off. You should ask the players whey they did, not me. I didn’t want them to.”

The Belarus champions started very nervously and the home side took full advantage, slicing them open at will in the opening minutes.

It was surprising it took until the 11th minute before Real took the lead with a neat corner move.

The ball was played low to the edge of the area for Guti who quickly found an unmarked Ramos at the far post, and the Spain full back sidefooted home.

Instead of pressing on though Real eased off to the annoyance of an impatient Bernabeu, and the visitors recovered some composure.

Schuster appeared the more anxious of the two coaches regularly stalking the technical area up to halftime, though BATE’s threat was restricted to long-range shots and the occasional freekick.

After the break, Real showed a greater urgency and the second goal came when Raul fired goalwards and Veremko saved point blank.

The ball rebounded off one of his defenders and Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy tapped in the loose ball in the 57th.

Soon after, BATE lost Khagush when he collected his second yellow card for another foul on Arjen Robben, who had given him a torrid time all night.

Substitute Gonzalo Higuain shot wide in a one-on-one as Real dominated, but they were unable to find a third despite having an extra man, and the team were whistled off at the end.

It’s showtime once again in Europe’s blue-ribbon club competition. The term David vs Goliath could not be more appropriately applied to this encounter as nine-time continental champions, Real Madrid welcome tournament debutants, BATE Borisov.

Another Year, Another Attempt

Last season, Real Madrid snapped a three-year running streak of losing their opening encounter in the Champions League. A 2-1 win at home against Werder Bremen ended that jinx as they went on to top the group but in spite of that, they still could not overcome the gremlin of stumbling at the first knockout round.

It was the third year in succession that they were sent packing at that stage, eliminated this time by AS Roma, and the fifth year in a row that they have failed to reach the semi finals.

The club’s board and their fans were happy enough to overlook that failure just this one time simply because it was Bernd Schuster’s first year in charge and he was missing various key players in each of the legs against Roma. The team as a whole were also inconveniently going through their worst form of the entire campaign at the time of meeting.

But with the amnesty being extended, now comes the time for heightened expectations and success. Schuster cannot afford another flop in the competition this term. And for a club like Real Madrid, anything short of an appearance in the final, at the very least, will be deemed a flop.

This year’s group stage will undoubtedly be one of the trickiest Los Merengues have had to face in a while. Their main rival will ofcourse be Juventus, a side who are always a threat and a constant problem for the Spanish outfit. There’s also a potential banana skin in the form of Zenit St. Petersburg, last season’s UEFA Cup winners and newly crowned Supercup champions, who have already shown that they are capable of beating any of Europe’s top guns.

Which brings us to little known BATE Borisov. They are the unknown entity of the group and it is precisely that quality which makes them so dangerous. Madrid will simply have to study and adapt to their opponents game plan as they go along in the match. But the one piece of homework that you would expect the men in white to do is to brush up on their knowledge of defending dead-ball situations.

History Makers

FC BATE may not have the illustrious history of nine Champions League trophies lined astern in their trophy cabinet but they have already made history in their own country.

Regardless of what happens to them in this competition, they will now go down into the record books for becoming the first ever Belarusian side to play in Europe’s elite tournament.

Up until the draw in Switzerland several weeks ago, not many outside of Belarus would have heard of this club and it’s no wonder judging by their European pedigree.

This will be only their third ever participation in a competition-proper in Europe. Their two previous involvements came in 2001 and 2007 in the UEFA Cup, but they were thumped by half a dozen goals on aggregate on each occasion by AC Milan and Villarreal respectively in the first round.

Based on their past records, they are the second most inexperienced side in the Champions League this term after only CFR Cluj. But for a team who were playing out of their domestic league’s third division just 13 years ago, it is a massive achievement and a huge leap forward for the club’s development.

Still, BATE are unlikely to cause too much of an upset in this group, with all due respect. With Madrid, Juventus and Zenit set to fight amongst themselves for the top three spots, the most the 2007 Belarusian league champions can hope for is to wait patiently and pounce on any grave slip-ups the trio might suffer and sneak into the UEFA Cup.

FORM GUIDE

Real Madrid

Sep 14 Real Madrid 4-3 Numancia (LA LIGA)

Aug 31 Deportivo La Coruña 2-1 Real Madrid (LA LIGA)

Aug 27 Real Madrid 5-3 Sporting Lisbon (TROFEO BERNABÉU)

Aug 24 Real Madrid 4-2 Valencia (SUPERCOPA)

Aug 17 Valencia 3-2 Real Madrid (SUPERCOPA)

BATE Borisov

Sep 13 Naftan 1-2 BATE (VYSSHAYA LIGA)

Sep 08 Neman 3-7 BATE (NATIONAL LEAGUE CUP)

Aug 31 BATE 2-2 Smorgon (VYSSHAYA LIGA)

Aug 27 BATE 1-1 Levski Sofia (CL 3^rd QUALIFYING ROUND)

Aug 23 Granit 2-2 BATE (VYSSHAYA LIGA)

TEAM NEWS

Real Madrid

Veterans Raúl and Fabio Cannavaro were given a chance to rest at the weekend against Numancia to help them regain full match fitness. Although the captain did make a second half cameo, both will be expected to start against BATE.

Sergio Ramos also missed last Sunday’s game due to a groin problem but he has been cleared by the medical team and he, too, should return to the staring line-up. Michel Salgado and Christoph Metzelder has been left out of the squad completely, while centreback Pepe is suspended due to a ban carried over from last season, as is midfielder Rubén de la Red.

Wesley Sneijder meanwhile, continues to recover from a damaged cruciate knee ligament he suffered during pre-season.

Probable Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Casillas – Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Heinze, Marcelo – Gago, Guti – van der Vaart, Raúl, Robben – van Nistelrooy

BATE Borisov

BATE manager Viktor Goncharenko could not have asked for a worse time to lose both his key forwards, Vitali Rodinov and Gennadi Bliznyuk to suspension. Regular back-ups Maksim Skavysh and Vladislav Mirchev will be favourites to step in and cover respectively but other than that, the 31 year old coach, the youngest in Champions League history should have no other major absentees.

Probable Starting XI (4-4-1-1): Veremko – Khagush, Sosnovsky, Rzhevsky, Yurevich – Nekhaichik, Sivakov, Krivets, Stasevich – Skavysh – Mirchev

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Real Madrid

Champions League top scorer, Raúl has yet to hit his stride in terms of form and fitness in La Liga but when it comes to Europe, he always has that knack to outshine everyone when least expected. All he needs is a goal or two to whet his scoring appetite and he will fancy his chances of doing that against the Belarusian minnows.

BATE Borisov

Without Rodinov and Bliznyuk, BATE will be supremely blunted upfront. But at least they still have influential midfielder Sergei Krivets. The self-confessed Real Madrid fan is a box-to-box player, someone capable of pulling defensive duties but also adept in driving forward with his excellent passing range and shooting abilities.

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos skipped the team’s Monday training session due to an injury and he has been deemed as a doubt for Wednesday’s Champions League clash.

Sergio Ramos was in the centre of controversy at the weekend when he was omitted from Real Madrid’s squad to take on Numancia.

His coach, Bernd Schuster revealed that it was because the 22 year old had picked up a groin strain while on international duty in midweek, although the Spanish Football Federation refuted those claims, saying that he left the national team camp in good health.

But whatever the case, the versatile defender was absent in Los Blancos’ Monday training session. He was not even present at the gym, where the first team players who were involved in the 4-3 win over Numancia on Sunday gathered to undergo a recovery session.

As of now, Sergio Ramos has been rated as a serious doubt for Madrid’s midweek Champions League clash against Belarussian outfit, BATE Borisov. But the team’s training schedule today (Tuesday) will give a better indication of his condition and availability.

Real Madrid have named six Castilla youngsters in their Champions League squad.

Felipe Ramos, Antonio Adan, Javier Velayos, David Mateos, Pedro Mosquera and Alberto Bueno have all been registered by Real for this season's campaign due to a change in the homegrown laws made by UEFA.