Goals from Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata staked Juventus to a 2-1 first leg lead Tuesday night in Torino, but the fact that Marco Reus replied once for Borussia Dortmund means that that this first leg UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie is keenly balanced heading back to Germany on March 18.
At times there were signs of the old Juventus which once ruled Europe, but failure to push on and widen their first half advantage meant that the final scoreline leaves Dortmund well-placed thanks to their away-goal. The positive sign for the Italian leaders, though, is they always looked dangerous on the counter, the style of game they utilize so well, especially away from home.
"There were a few situations in the first half when we could have delivered the attack better," Klopp said after the match. "We did well in the first half and caused Juve problems. But the goals we conceded are tough to swallow. We showed a good reaction to going 1-0 down and played well. Ahead of their second goal we were too passive. We can and have to defend better in that situation.
"In the second half we only had one or two opportunities, while Juve had two really good chances. From that perspective, the result is OK."
Klopp's Dortmund could not get much going against a resolute defense, Juventus effectively preventing Reus from doing much damage in midfield after he collected his goal. Their lack of real scoring chances against Gianliugi Buffon will have them concerned when planning for the return match.
Juventus won because they exposed the defensive frailties which have plagued Dortmund in the Bundesliga all season. Despite having a good share of ball and collecting their own gift goal from Reus, the visitors had goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to blame for the opening Juventus goal while a static defense was left watching when Morata scored the second.
It was Morata who created the opening goal for Tevez in the 13th minute when the Italians countered against the run of play. The Spanish forward collected at midfield, motored down the left side and eventually crossed a ball that Weidenfeller simply failed to handle. Erratic all season and actually benched for a spell in favor of Mitch Langerak, Weidenfeller spilled the ball directly into the path of Tevez, who beat Marcel Schmelzer on the line.
Dortmund was level five minutes later when Juventus' Giorgio Chiellini lost his footing and the quicksilver Reus immediately snapped up possession, raced past Stephan Lichtsteiner and went in alone on Buffon. There was nothing the Italian veteran keeper could do about Reus' precise finish so it was 1-1 after 18 minutes.
Dortmund had slightly the better of things after that as both teams lost a key playerand had to reshape their sides. Dortmund defender Lukasz Pisczek got whacked twice around the ankles and could not continue, replaced by Matthias Ginter. More significantly, Juventus lost its playmaker, Andrea Pirlo, who appeared to damage a muscle and had to give way to Roberto Pereyra in the 37th minute.
But the absence of Pirlo did not prevent Juventus from creating one more classic piece of Italian counter-attack football. Just when Dortmund seemed to be getting some sustained pressure, the Serie A leaders swept the other way. Tevez went down the inside left channel, slipped Pogba through ahead of him on the left and Pogba's cross was there for Morata to glide home when none of the Dortmund defenders could cut it out. Morata, also, was by himself when he tapped the ball past the helpless Weidenfeller.
Dortmund theoretically had three strikers -- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ciro Immobile and Henrykh Mkhitaryan -- but, especially after the break, their attack was unable to find any of the supposed front-runners with any regularity. Juventus played its usual superb defensive game in midfield and used the powerful work of Paul Pogba to lift pressure and change the tempo of play.
With two defensive lines of four and only Tevez and Morata available as possible attackers, Massimiliano Allegri's side was mainly interested in keeping Dortmund on the perimeter, protecting what they had built in the first half. The occasional counters were still there with Dortmund having trouble whenever the ball went wide, especially if it found Morata.
There was one half-chance for Tevez and a better one that Pereyra could not finish, so Juventus finished winners but hardly in position to think they have a foot in the quarterfinal round draw just yet.
"We know we can defend better than we did ahead of the two goals we conceded," Reus told reporters after the match. "Now we have to fix this in the second leg. Our goal didn't give us as much confidence as we thought it would. In the second half we were not dangerous enough, but everything is still up for grabs in this tie."
Information from Goal.com contributed to this report.
