A double by Argentine striker
Carlos Tevez gave Juventus a 2-0 win over Sweden's Malmo in
their opening Champions League game on Tuesday.
Tevez completed a splendid one-two with Kwadwo Asamaoh
with a cool finish in the 59th minute to give the Turin hosts
the lead with his first goal in the Champions League since 2009,
when he was a Manchester United player.
The 30-year-old then curled in a free kick in the closing
stages to wrap up the Group A game for the Italian champions.
Juve are top of the group with three points alongside
Greek champions Olympiacos, who beat last-season's runners up
Atletico Madrid 3-2 at home.
"I wasn't concerned about my Champions League goal
drought," said Tevez.
"I play for a team and with this one I play every game as
if it were the last," added the striker, who had a long spell on
the sidelines after rowing with ex-coach Roberto Mancini at his
last club, Manchester City, but has been a model of
professionalism since arriving in Turin last year.
Morale is high at twice-European champions Juve as they
have also won their first two games in Serie A, ahead of a
showdown against AC Milan on Saturday.
But Tevez warned against thinking progress to the knockout
stages of the Champions League will be easy, especially after
they failed to qualify from the group stage last year.
"We know we need to win every game. The papers say it's an
easy group, but taking last year's experience into account we
know that's definitely not the case," he said.
Juve won three consecutive Serie A titles under Antonio
Conte, who left Juve in the close season and has taken over the
Italian national team.
But they did not mount a major challenge in the Champions
League under Conte and this is something they are aiming to put
right under new boss Massimiliano Allegri.
"It was important to get off to a good start. Olympiacos'
win over Atletico Madrid means it will be a tricky group in
which many points will be required to go through," said Allegri.
"We need to improve our use of the ball, you can't risk
throwing away a one-goal lead in a game like this.
"The opposition did well to limit us to few opportunities,
aside from the goals themselves.
"We need to be calm, focus on playing good football and
not allow ourselves to become anxious and frenetic in chasing
for a goal".
Italy's other representative in the Champions League, AS
Roma, face CSKA Moscow at home in a Group E clash on Wednesday.
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