Soccer

Monaco vs. Juventus live blog: Scores and highlights for Champions League semifinal

The leaders of the French and Italian leagues square off on Wednesday.

Updated May 3, 2017, 8:36 PM UTC

Manchester City FC v AS Monaco - UEFA Champions League Round of 16: First Leg

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FINAL SCORE — AS Monaco 0-2 Juventus

What a performance by the Bianconeri. You can’t even say that Monaco played poorly in this one. Both Juve goals were spectacular, while their back three and Gigi Buffon were on top form. Monaco was very good, but Juventus was spectacular.

Here’s a match report of the first leg of the Champions League semifinal between Juventus and AS Monaco.

90’ — Buffon comes up huge again! Germain gets his head to a free kick by Joao Moutinho, but the Juve keeper tips over the bar.

89’ — Final change for Juventus, Miralem Pjanic is off for Mario Lemina.

88’ — Monaco unlucky not to score on a free kick. It gets past all the Juve defenders and Buffon and is sitting at the back post for someone to tap in, but no Monaco players react in time.

81’ — Claudio Marchisio gets an early rest, he’s replaced by Tomas Rincon. Monaco makes their final sub as well, with Almamy Toure coming on for Bernardo Silva.

76’ — Juventus trying to keep the clean sheet now. Juan Cuadrado replaces Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala moves up the pitch.

73’ — Monaco is pouring numbers forward, but they’re not pressuring Buffon. The Juventus defense has kept them from getting off any dangerous shots.

67’ — Two subs for Monaco. Joao Moutinho and Valerie Germain are on for Tiemoué Bakayoko and Thomas Lemar.

59’ — GOAL! AS Monaco 0-2 Juventus. It’s the same three players as the first goal. Dybala starts the move, Dani Alves plays a perfect cross and Higuain finishes from close range. Excellent team goal.

58’ — Getting chippy now. Marchisio gets a yellow card for a hard challenge on Fabinho.

54’ — Subasic makes an excellent kick save on Claudio Marchisio!

53’ — Dani Alves has just hacked down Mbappe, which the Monaco fans and players are pretty unhappy about. No card, though.

47’ — Buffon’s on his game today. He smothers a shot from Falcao after he was played in by Bernardo Silva with an excellent through ball.

46’ — And we’re back. Big test for Monaco here, they need to score and can’t afford to give up another.

HALFTIME — AS Monaco 0-1 Juventus

Even half, but one moment of brilliance from Juve is the difference. Monaco probably need to score twice in the second half to feel like they have a decent chance in the second leg.

42’ — Not a ton happening here, which is a credit to Juve’s midfield and defense. After a shaky start, they’ve sorted themselves out.

29’ — GOAL! AS Monaco 0-1 Juventus. Gonzalo Higuain struggled in the opening 25 minutes, but he’s come up huge with an away goal for the Bianconeri. Paulo Dybala starts the attack with a brilliant backheel flick to Higuain, he finds Dani Alves, and the Brazilian returns the ball to his striker for a goal from the edge of the box. That’s Higuain’s 30th of the season.

25’ — Juventus has a big set piece chance but Gonzalo Higuain, strangely, hits a volley completely sideways.

19’ — Monaco’s strikers are causing Juve’s defense all kinds of problems. Buffon asked to come up big again, this time tipping away a header by Falcao.

16’ — Excellent save by Buffon! Nabil Dirar crosses for Mbappe, who redirects it towards the near post, but Buffon comes up huge.

12’ — Monaco has their first chance from Mbappe, but he can’t direct his header away from Buffon.

10’ — First good chance for Juventus, Mario Mandzukic shoots right at Danijel Subasic.

1’ — Kickoff! If you want something to watch for early on, keep an eye on the Juventus defensive shape and how they’re matching up with Monaco’s front two.

Monaco has one of the youngest squads in top level soccer. Here’s how old some of their youngsters were when Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon started his pro career.

Juventus and AS Monaco have dominated their domestic leagues this season, and one of them is going to the UEFA Champions League final in Cardiff.

The big matchup that fans are keying in on is the one between the youngest and oldest players on the pitch. Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon made his debut in professional soccer before Monaco star Kylian Mbappe was even born. Each player has discussed their respect and admiration for the other in the build-up to the game, and they’ll probably see plenty of each other in this semifinal.

While Monaco has stick with the same setup that got them this far, Juventus appears to have changed their shape to better match up with their opponents. Andrea Barzagli has come into the lineup, so expect to see Juve line up with a back three. They’re hoping the spare man in the center will keep Mbappe and Radamel Falcao at bay.

This is a live blog and will update constantly throughout the match above. Refresh to see the latest updates.

Lineups

AS Monaco (4-4-2): Danjiel Subasic; Djibril Sidibe, Jemerson, Kamil Glik, Nabil Dirar, Thomas Lemar, Tiemoué Bakayoko, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva, Kylian Mbappe, Radamel Falcao

Juventus (3-4-1-2): Gianluigi Buffon; Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli, Alex Sandro, Miralem Pjanic, Claudio Marchisio, Dani Alves, Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, Gonzalo Higuain.