Dejan Kulusevski scored a decisive late goal to give Juventus a 1-0 win at Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday, which puts them well past the Champions League last 16.
Sweden attacker Kulusevski led with his first goal of the season from a cross from Mattia de Siglio, with four minutes remaining of a largely sluggish contest to maintain Juve’s 100 percent record in Group H.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side have nine points from the first three games and could secure a place in the knockout stage by hosting Zenit early next month.
“I was worried the ball wouldn’t go in and I loved it when I saw it,” Kulusewski, who has struggled to make a mark at Juve since arriving last year, told Amazon.
“It’s my first goal in the Champions League and a really important victory.”
It was Juve’s fourth straight 1-0 win in all competitions in a run of six wins on the surge before a huge match at rivals Inter Milan on Sunday.
Russian champions Zenit are third in the group on three points, three points behind second-placed Chelsea after their second loss of the Champions League campaign.
“We have nine points and haven’t scored a goal yet and in two weeks we can make sure of qualification,” Allegri said.
“We played poorly and we won, that could be a good sign for the game over the weekend.”
Before the match, Zenit fans put on a massive display celebrating the birth of Peter the Great and the Russian Empire in 1721, but the hosts’ style of play was not elaborate.
Sergei Semak’s team were content to stop Juve and try to strike at the break in a role reversal for the Italians following their win over Chelsea last time.
The first half was almost completely devoid of roundabout incident with a long-range effort from Claudinho, who was well saved by Wojciech Szczeciny in the most exciting moment in the 18th minute.
Weston McKennie should have put the away team forward five minutes after the break, when he failed to beat Stanisaw Kritsyuk after a brilliant goal by lvaro Morata.
However Zenit showed shortly after that they were not content to sit only when Szczecini ran to block from Wendell before Claudinho widened a dangerous effort in the 57th minute.
McKennie wasted his second good chance of the night with 16 minutes remaining when he took a diving header wide from De Siglio’s cross.
But Kulusewski outperformed his American teammate when he directed his own header to snatch it from the post, in what was seen up to that point as an unexpected victory.
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