Juventus booked their place in the final of the Champions League courtesy of a 4-1 aggregate victory over AS Monaco.
The Italian giants went into the second leg with a 2-0 advantage following their impressive victory in Monaco last week, and first-half goals from Mario Mandzukic and Dani Alves put the tie well and truly beyond the Ligue 1 leaders.
Kylian Mbappe pulled one goal back to end Juventus’s run of six consecutive clean sheets in the competition, but it was far too little too late as the hosts cruised into the final, where they will face either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.
Massimiliano Allegri’s mood would not have been improved by having to make an early sub after Sami Khedira picked up a hamstring injury, but the introduction of Claudio Marchisio seemed to allow the hosts to settle into the match and they soon began to take control.
Monaco did test Gianluigi Buffon through a sharp effort from Falcao on the half-hour mark, but Juventus were still on top and took a fully deserved lead shortly afterwards when Mandzukic finished off a swift counter-attack.
Alves, who assisted both goals in the first leg, once again delivered the telling ball to pick out Mandzukic at the back post, and the Croatian striker saw his initial header saved by Subasic before turning home the rebound from close range.
That left Monaco needing three goals against a team who, at that point, had conceded just two in the competition all season, but Juventus refused to sit back on their lead and continued to create chances almost at will, with Higuain testing Subasic.
Juve were soon back on the front foot, though, and after Subasic denied Dybala in another one-on-one situation Allegri’s side did double their lead from the resulting corner.
This time Subasic could have done better as his punch only went as far as Alves, but the Brazilian still had a lot to do and his stunning first-time volley right on the stroke of half time was the pick of the goals over the entire tie.
The second half began with both sides knowing that the tie was already over as a contest, and as a result it suffered a bit of a lull with half-chances for Juan Cuadrado – on as a sub for Dybala – and Higuain going begging.
Juve may have been guilty of a rare moment of complacency as a result of that, and they needed Buffon to deny Mbappe in the 67th minute before Monaco finally ended the Italian goalkeeper’s run of 690 minutes without conceding a Champions League goal.
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