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Malmö's Champions League bid ended

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Malmö's Champions League bid ended
Juventus striker Carlos Tevez shakes off Malmö's Markus Halsti during the Italian side's victory on November 26th 2014. Photo:Andreas Hillergren/TT

The Swedish champions were defeated by the Italian side Juventus 0-2 at home and will need to win their last Champions League match in order to keep their hopes alive of playing in Europe.

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Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez struck to secure a crucial victory and hand Juventus a massive last 16 boost as the Italians ended a five-game winless streak away in the Champions League on Wednesday night. 

For for the first 15 minutes at a packed Swedbank Stadion, where the pitch looked in poor condition, Juventus struggled to find rhythm as the Swedish champions pushed and bullied their way past the Italian giants.

Malmö went close striker when Markus Rosenberg's ball found Emil Forsberg free on the left but after rounding Stephan Lichsteiner he could only fire into the side-netting as Gianluigi Buffon charged out of goal.

Shortly after the break Juventus took the lead through Fernando Llorente and pressed home their advantage in the latter stages of the game when Carlos Tevez added a second. 

The Argentinian striker secured the win when a long ball from midfield towards Morata was headed into the path of Paul Pogba by defender Erik Johansson.

Pogba picked up the loose ball and squared for Tevez to beat the onrushing Olsen with an angled bobbling strike.

"The pitch wasn't in good condition, but it helped my shot go in so I can't complain," said Tevez.

Malmö's players surrounded the referee to protest a supposed foul by Morata on Johansson, leading to the expulsion of Johansson and cautions for Olsen,Rosenberg and Morata.

The defeat means Malmö are unable to qualify for the latter stages of the Champions League, having lost four of their five games in the competition. Malmö were the first Swedish side to reach the Champions League group stage since Helsingborgs IF in 2000-2001.

The southern side still have a small chance of playing in next season's Europa League if they can defeat Greek outfit Olympiakos on December 9th.

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