Nedved strike sinks Bayern

Pavel Nedved's goal secured a 1-0 win for Juventus over Bayern Munich.

In a defence-oriented game the decisive goal arrived late in the second half when the current European Football of the Year latched onto Zlatan Ibrahimovic's header before beating Oliver Kahn.

The victory moves Juve onto nine points from three games while Bayern remain in second place although Ajax's win means they are just three points behind the German giants.

The best chance of the first half arrived in the first ten minutes when Gianluca Zambrotta crossed for Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the middle, however the Sweden international could only head over from close range.

Jonathan Zebina created the next opportunity for Juve, however - following a surging run down the right - Alessandro Del Piero could not get any power behind his effort that was easily saved by Oliver Kahn.

Bayern's first chance came from a long-range effort from the feet of Torsten Frings from 35-yards, but Gianluigi Buffon was equal to the shot from distance.

Roy Makaay's first sight of goal saw him get in behind the home side's defence, but after muscling his way past Buffon his effort was tame and easily cleared away from the danger zone.

Despite two sides on show with superb talent up front it is the organised defending from the teams that was keeping the scoreboard operator firmly in their chair.

Nedved tired to put Kahn under pressure early after the break, but after leading with his elbow the experienced keeper was unhappy with the Czech star's challenge.

Kahn dodged a bullet moments later when he spilled Emerson's woeful effort on goal to the feet of Del Piero from close range, but the striker's first time effort somehow failed to find the target.

Del Piero, who is still working his way back to full fitness, was then replaced by powerful Uruguayan striker Marcelo Zalayeta as Juve looked for that all-important goal.

Bayern thought they might have claimed a penalty after 75 minutes when Zambrotta bundled Bastian Schweinsteiger over in the box, however Spanish ref Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez waived away their appeals.

Within minutes the home side were ahead when Ibrahimovic's flick was controlled in the box by Nedved with his right foot before he lashed the shot past Kahn with his left.

Buffon had to be on his toes minutes later when Schweinsteiger struck a sweet left-footed effort that needed to be tipped over by Italy's number one keeper.

The visitors should have equalised late on when Willy Sagnol's free-kick from out right was missed by Michael Ballack in the middle while substitute Vahid Hashemian also fluffed his lines at the back post.

From the resulting corner Brazilian defender Lucio somehow managed to head wide a close-range effort when it seemed easier to find the back of the net.

Despite failing to perform at their best Juve hung on for the win despite some late pressure from Bayern.

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Juventus	Team Statistics	Bayern Munich
1	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
3	Shots on Target	2
5	Shots off Target	5
4	Blocked Shots	4
5	Corners	4
19	Fouls	20
10	Offsides	6
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
66.6	Passing Success	71.1
40	Tackles	57
60	Tackles Success	52.6
40.1	Possession	59.9
42.7	Territorial Advantage	57.3