Juve overcome brave challenge from Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers 0-2 Juventus

Shamrock Rovers put up a brave show against their illustrious Italian counterparts Juventus last night but fell to a goal in each half from striker De Oliveira Amauri in the Europa League thrd round qualifying stage at Tallaght stadium.

Amauri put the visitors in front after only three minutes, chipping the ball over Alan Mannus after a slick interchange with Diego on the edge of the area.

Rovers battled hard thereafter but created little in the way of goalscoring opportunities and Amauri put the game beyond doubt midway through the second half with a header from Marco Motta’s cross.

The Italians were content to sit back and try and hit Rovers on the counter-attack after Amauri’s second goal but failed to register another score in the 90 minutes.

Michael O’Neill’ side head to Modena for the return fixture next week and the Rovers’ boss was proud of his side’s performance.

Speaking to RTE after the game O’Neill said, “I always felt we could go out and play the way we did and have patches where we could hassle them, but we knew it would be difficult to do that for 90 minutes against a side of their quality. In the end I couldn’t have asked any more of the players.”

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