Juventus were he first side to book their place in the 2017 Champions League final, as goals from Mario Mandžukić and Dani Alves cancelled out a late consolation from Kylian Mbappé to give them the 2-1 win on the night and 4-1 on aggregate over Monaco.

Monaco had a decent start with Mbappé early effort been ruled offside, but from there Juve took over with chances for Gonzalo Higuaín and Mandžukić before the Croatian opened the scoring. Higuaín had another good chance before Alves added a second with his excellent volley.

Chances proved to be few and far between in the second period with Juve already having their minds on the trip to Wales, but the only blip came as Mbappé’s ended their excellent defensive record but the night belonged to the Old Lady once again.

Bright start burns out quickly

Monaco headed to Turin in need of a minor miracle as they look to turn over the 2-0 deficit from the previous week, they were all guns blazing from the off and had a great chance in the opening five minutes.

It seemed to come from nothing as the ball deflected into the air and into the feet of Mbappé, the Frenchman managed to get a shot away which came back off the far post but the flag was raised for offside.

From there the Old Lady took control as they looked to make sure the tie was done and dusted, but were proving wasteful with the opportunities presented to them.

Higuaín raced through on the right in the 22nd minute as he was one-on-one with Danijel Subašić, it was a skewed effort from the Argentine as he attempted to chip the Croatian but look goal bound but Kamil Glik hooks it away.

Higuaín then turned provider as he played a through ball to send Mandžukić clean through against the compatriot and it was the keeper who won as he produced a very strong one-handed save to keep his side clinging on.

Booking the tickets for Cardiff

A Juventus goal looked inevitable despite failing to finish their chances, but their opportunity did eventually arise in the 33rd minute. It was a good break on the counterattack through Alex Sandro with the ball eventually coming to Alves. He floated a great ball into the far post but Mandžukić’s great header was met by an equally great save from Subašić but he was alive to the situation to fire the rebound into the roof of the net.

Their second arrive just before the break, and if any goal was worthy of putting a team into the Champions League final it would have been Alves’ excellent effort. The chance looked to have gone when the corner in was cleared, it was only as far as Alves on the edge of the area and he hit a sweet first-time volley into the bottom corner.

Boy wonder ending an excellent record

The Italians concentration had lapsed slightly having already secured their passage into the final, but they had an excellent defensive record which was brought to an end by the starlet Mbappé. He had a great chance in the 67th minute when he was in on the left, but his shot was poor as Gianluigi Buffon deflected it wide.

He was much more accurate from subsequent corner as he raced to the front post to fire home, a consolation but could go down as the only goal that Massimiliano Allegri’s side conceded in the knockout stages of a potentially Champions League winning campaign.

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.