05.08.09 - 14:38 -
Aston Villa celebrate after winning the penalties against Juventus during the final of the Peace Cup Andalucía football match at Olimpic´s stadium in Seville. / CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP
Having first dispatched off the Portuguese champions Oporto in the semi final held at Malaga’s la Rosaleda stadium 2–1, the English side Aston Villa then faced up to Juventus in Sunday’s final in Seville. Their Italian opponents had reached the final with a 100% record having beaten Sevilla, Seongnam Ilhwa and Real Madrid on the way, whereas ‘the Villa’ had only managed to overcome a defeat by Malaga to reach the semis on goal difference.
The match turned out to be a pretty tense affair with what atmosphere there was coming mainly from the Birmingham club’s loyal travelling supporters. Juventus proved to be strong in midfield but their strikers Trezeguet and laquinta let them down badly. In fact the majority of their attempts at goal soared not only high but also wide of the goal. Having said that, what efforts that were on target were brilliantly intercepted by goalkeeper Brad Guzan who went on to perform an excellent and match winning game.
Playing without their English International striker Emile Heskey who was red carded in the Oporto match, Villa put a lot of their hopes on the big Norwegian forward Carew who was constantly being heavily marked and tackled. This gave the likes of Weimann and Albrighton the opportunity to shine along with the highly talented Ashley Young who also put on a marvellous performance. With the scoreboard monitor not being disturbed even after thirty minutes of extra time the final result all boiled down to penalties and who would miss and who could win the day.
Buffon, the Juventus goalie did save one shot from Herd but Guzan first blocked one from Iaquinta and then bravely stood his ground to even out the miss from Sidwell with a vital stop from Italian star Del Piero who hit the ball straight down the middle! Next Cuéllar cleverly put Villa’s noses in front at 3–4 and then Legrottaglie followed his forward's example by belting his effort high over the crossbar to hand the victory and the prestigious cup to the English side. Well done to ‘the Villa’!
