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UEFA Champions League: Trezeguet scores century as Juventus coast past Bruges [Thu Sep 15th, 2005]
Bruges, Belgium (AFP) - Second half goals from Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet - his hundredth for the club - handed Juventus a 2-1 win over FC Bruges in their UEFA Champions League group A encounter.
Bruges began the match hesitantly and it took some great goalkeeping from Stijn Stijnen to keep out shots from Nedved in the eighth minute, Trezeguet a minute later and then Gianluca Zambrotta moments later.
Stijnen was to have praise heaped on him by an unlikely source - Juventus coach Fabio Capello, who was also left frustrated by the narrowness of the victory.
"I've never seen a team have so many chances in a Champions League match as we did. It's incredible that we were made to suffer a bit in the closing stages because we didn't put our chances away.
"We made one error and Bruges scored from it, but overall we played very well with a lot of personality. Their keeper (Stijn Stijnen) was excellent, without doubt the best player on the pitch."
Trezeguet again came close to opening the score in the 36th minute, but the France international saw his shot hit Stijnen's upright.
The Frenchman came close twice just before the interval, but again was thwarted by the Belgian keeper.
Bruges, as expected, emerged somewhat more motivated for the second half, but their efforts ultimately led to little.
It was a 66th minute free kick from Czech midfielder Nedved which broke the deadlock, and less than 10 minutes later, a Trezeguet lob all but secured the points.
"It's 100 goals," said Trezeguet. "I'm very proud of myself and my team-mates. It's part of the history of this club and it's something exceptional."
Bruges grabbed a late consolation goal by Yulu-Matondo four minutes from the end, while Juventus's latest signing, Patrick Vieira, was sent off for a second bookable offence in the final minute.
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