Ghana Midfielder Asamoah Benched As Juventus Suffer Bayern Defeat In Champions League

Kwadwo Asamoah will not start for Juventus against Bayern Munich in UEFA Champions League.

Ghana midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah was benched on a bitterly disappointing night for Juventus who were beaten 2-0 in Tuesday night’s UEFA Champions League first leg tie at Bayern Munich.

Bayern took the significant step towards the semi-finals of the Champions League with the convincing first-leg success over the Italian side.

After opening the scoring inside a minute on Tuesday courtesy of a deflected drive from David Alaba, the runaway Bundesliga leaders dominated what many felt would be the most closely contested of the four quarter-finals and were full value for a victory which was deservedly capped by a second-half strike from Thomas Muller.

Bayern had gone into the game on the back of a devastating 9-2 domestic defeat of Hamburg but even they could not have imagined that they would open the scoring against the tightest defence in the Champions League with such ease.

Juventus’ Ghana international has been struggling for a starting role since returning from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

However, last Saturday, he played 60 minutes in the win over Inter.

Juventus coach Antonio Conte opted for Federico Peluso who is favoured ahead of Asamoah, as Stephan Lichtsteiner takes the other flank.

Juve must now attempt to overturn a two-goal deficit without Vidal and Stephan Lichsteiner, both of whom were booked in Bavaria.

Juventus XI: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Peluso; Matri, Quagliarella

Substitutes: Storari, Marrone, Padoin, Pogba, Asamoah, Vucinic, Giovinco