Champions League: Stunned by Young Boys, Juventus still win Group H

BSC Young Boys defeated Juventus 2-1, but the Italian juggernaut still won Champions League Group H thanks to second-place Manchester United's loss to Valencia.

Juve came into Wednesday night's contest at the Bern's Stade de Suisse here as a heavy favourite, having won 14 of their 15 Serie A matches and all but one of the five previous Champions League games, reports Efe.

The visitors dominated for the first 25 minutes, as Cristiano Ronaldo forced a save from Young Boys keeper Marco Wölfli in the 13th minute and threatened on two subsequent occasions before Juve suffered a setback with the loss of Juan Guillermo Cuadrado to injury.

Five minutes later, his replacement, Alex Sandro, fouled Ngoumo Ngamaleu in the area. The referee awarded the penalty to Young Boys and Guillaume Hoarau converted to put the Swiss team ahead 1-0.

The Bianconeri spared no effort in pursuit of the equalizer, yet it was the underdogs who got the next goal as the match entered the final quarter.

Hoarau went forward on the counter and beat defender Leonardo Bonucci before tucking the ball inside the near post for the 2-0 lead in the 68th minute.

Conceding a second time prompted Juventus coach to beef up the attack with Paulo Dybala and the Argentine pulled back a goal for the visitors in the 80th minute, with an assist from Ronaldo.

Juve stepped on the gas and nearly equalized in the 86th with a Ronaldo header that hit the post, but the high drama materialized deep into stoppage time, when a stunning goal by Dybala was disallowed after the referee concluded that Cristiano was offside and obstructed Wölfli.

--IANS

ajb/sed