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Sports

Juve reaches CL final as Morata burns Madrid

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Alvaro Morata came back to haunt his former side once again as the Juventus forward scored in the 57th minute on Wednesday to help his team earn a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their Champions League semifinal at Real Madrid, giving the Italian side a 3-2 aggregate victory.

Morata scored in Juve's 2-1 first-leg victory last Tuesday, and with his team in need of a goal to reach the final on June 6 against Barcelona, Morata came through once again.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute for Madrid, who would have advanced on the away goals rule had that result stood.

But after selling Morata to Juve last summer, Madrid watched the 22-year-old send his new team to the final with a left-footed strike that beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

The home side went on the attack from the start, and after a few missed chances, James Rodriguez was brought down inside the penalty area by a clumsy challenge from Juve's Giorgio Chiellini.

Ronaldo stepped to the spot and drove the ball high down the middle of the goal and just under the crossbar as goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon dove to his right.

Buffon did well to keep Juve within a goal at halftime, however, when he got down to palm a low drive from Karim Benzema just past his near post.

Madrid looked more likely to add to its lead in the second half, but Morata struck in the 57th minute when he took a headed pass from Paul Pogba down off his chest and beat Casillas from 10 yards.

Rodriguez threatened to answer on the hour mark with a left-footed shot that whistled narrowly over the crossbar, while Casillas kept his team level with a fine stop on Claudio Marchisio's first-time shot from inside the box.

A dangerous cross from Ronaldo nearly led to a goal a few minutes later as he served the ball to the back post for Gareth Bale, but the Welshman failed to get his header down from a few yards out.

It was as good a chance as Madrid had the rest of the way as Juve bunkered down and held off the home side to return to the Champions League final for the first time since 2003.