Juve end Dortmund's Champions League run with dominant beatdown

Italy's Serie A is no longer the acme of European football, but Juventus recalled the glory days of the Italian game Wednesday with a comprehensive domination of Borussia Dortmund, winning their UEFA Champions League knockout tie, 3-0 on the night, 5-1 on aggregate.

And it really wasn't even that close.

Carlos Tevez scored twice, a third minute goal and a 79th minute strike, while setting up Alvaro Morata in the 70th minute as the Old Lady of Italian football never let BvB have a sniff at a quarterfinal place. Legendary goalkeeper Gigi Buffon didn't even have to work very hard, so solid was the team in front of him and even them loss of quicksilver Paul Pogba did nothing to slow down Massimiliano Allegri's men.

Dortmund, which had started the night 2-1 down and might have felt they were as good as their rival in the first leg in Torino, never got a grip on the match after Tevez delivered his hammer blow. Their midfield was swamped, unable to break down Juventus' diamond, forced to spend much of the night passing to no effect on the periphery. There was no room for Marco Reus, often marshaled by Arturo Vidal, and the strikers were so effectively swallowed up by the central Juventus defenders as to be rendered invisible.

Tevez put on a finisher's clinic, stretching the suspect Dortmund defense at the offside line with his runs and delivering two high-quality strikes. The Argentine striker looks back to his best form, just as his teammates appear capable of making it difficult for anyone at the next stage of Europe's top competition.

For Juergen Klopp's side, the performance suggested the end of a three-year stay among the best on the continent. Unable to make an impression in the Bundesliga this season, where they flirted with relegation over the first half of the campaign, their Champions League play had been the lone bright spot in a worrysome season. As they were swept aside before the home fans on this night even their adoring support will have headed home wondering what the future holds.

"We were too harmless. If you don't shoot on goal, you can't score," Klopp admitted after the match. "We can't blame the ball, because it flew fairly well, as you could see with the goal Tevez scored. Every minute the opponent gained in confidence and we ended up having none. Juve were simply better than us, but they also had the perfect start after three minutes."

Tevez gave Juventus the perfect start when he ripped a 25-yard drive into the top left corner, beating Roman Weidenfeller's late leap before the fans had really had an opportunity to settle down. The Dortmund goalie seemed caught out by the third-minute drive, which picked up pace as it flew into the top corner.

Juventus continued to accent attack in the opening quarter hour, Hummels having to make a wonderful tackle to stop a Morata break down the right, then Weidenfeller, erratic all season, called into action to keep out a long-range Stephan Lichtsteiner attempt. BvB looked to be caught flat-footed and never recovered, unable to stamp their tempo and authority on the match.

When Reus tried to come forward he not only had to deal with the close attention of Vidal, but also with a defense in depth. Juventus was able to get everyone behind the ball when necessary because the pace of Tevez and Morata was enough to unsettle the Dortmund defense by itself.

Things might have changed just before the half hour when the influential Pogba was forced off with a hamstring injury. Already missing the injured Andrea Pirlo, Pogba's loss meant that two of the most creative Juventus players were lost but their absence was quite overcome. Andrea Barzagli, himself coming off an injury layoff, took over for Pogba and there was no drop-off in Juve's defensive intensity.

The runaway Serie A leaders were composed and precise at the back, so effective in shutting down Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrykh Mkhitaryan that the two supposed strikers hardly saw the ball and Dortmund never truly threatened with crosses or passes through the inside channels. The second half was truly all about Juventus, Dortmund unable to change the flow of play and fortunate not to concede more than the two additional goals.

Weidenfeller had to make a big save on Morata in the first five minutes of the second half, then Morata nearly got in again in the 55th minute after a surging run from Roberto Pereyra. Morata made no mistake -- in fact, he really couldn't -- when Tevez beat the offside trap, raced in alone on the right, then slid the ball across for an open net finish in the 70th minute that ensured Juventus' name will be in the pot Friday for the quarterfinal draw. This time Weidenfeller was left with no choice but to attempt to reach the cross, so he was out of the play when Morata stroked the ball home.

Tevez finished things with a sweet strike nine minutes later and Italy's Old Lady simply played out time while its supporters sang, celebrating a night when the future seemed to carry echoes of the past, of days when the black-and-white stripes ruled Europe.

"It's a deserved victory, but we can do even better," head coach Allegri told Mediaset after Juve's victory. "We can improve in terms of passing and game management. This squad has everything needed to play even better than they did tonight."