Football
2016-17 UEFA Champions League, Group Stage
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PA Sport 7y

Higuain scores as Juventus beat Dinamo Zagreb to top Group H

Gonzalo Higuain's stunning strike saw Juventus finish on top of Champions League Group H as they beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 in Turin.

After a lifeless first half, Higuain fired Juve ahead shortly after the break before Daniele Rugani headed in a second to wrap up the victory and confirm the Bianconeri's place as group winners.

Juve were already through to the knockout stages of the competition but needed a win or for second-placed Sevilla not to beat Lyon in order to top the group.

Lyon and Sevilla played out a 0-0 draw in France while Dinamo could finish no higher than bottom of the group.

The first half was a frustrating one for Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri, as the Serie A side attacked for most of the period but failed to create an opening against Dinamo.

Juve, looking a bit frustrated as the half wore on as Dinamo's defence began strongly, started to take potshots from distance, but none troubled the visitors.

Claudio Marchisio, captain for the night, blazed high and wide after a lengthy spell of possession in the 19th minute before Mario Lemina pulled the trigger which missed the target by some distance.

The best chance of the first half came just after the half-hour mark when Juan Cuadrado slid the ball to Mario Mandzukic who remained strong and stayed on his feet.

The Croatian forward took the ball close to the by-line then shaped to cross before cleverly cutting the ball back inside and chipping a cross into the box where Miralem Pjanic met it with a header. Unfortunately for the Juventus midfielder, he aimed it straight at Dinamo goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, who gathered the ball to his chest.

It was a different story early in the second half, though, as Higuain scored his third goal in five Champions League games after some excellent work by Lemina.

Cuadrado worked his way up the right wing and fed the ball to Lemina, who kept on his feet at the edge of the area under immense pressure from the Dinamo defence to offload to Higuain. The ball fell onto the striker's right foot and he hit it first-time into the top left of Livakovic's goal.

It was the striker's first goal since Nov. 2, in the 1-1 draw with Lyon in the same competition, and with Lyon and Sevilla locked at 0-0 in their match it put Juve in pole position to finish as group winners.

Any doubt on the finishing positions in the group were put to bed in the 73rd minute when Rugani powerfully headed Pjanic's corner past Livakovic.

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