(Football news) Angel Di Maria continued his rich vein of form when he scored the only goal of the game as Juventus beat Freiburg 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 encounter. Juve registered a whopping 20 shots at the Allianz Stadium against Freiburg but could only manage to score one as Di Maria’s second-half header gave Bianconeri a slender lead in the tie. The World Cup winner continued to shine in this competition and in the last match against Nantes, he netted a brilliant hat-trick in the previous round.

Freiburg saw their five-match unbeaten streak ended and now they must come from behind when the teams meet in Germany next week. Allegri’s decision to drop Paul Pogba from the matchday squad was for disciplinary reasons as it dominated the headlines of before the pre match build-up to what was Juve’s first Europa League meeting against a German opposition since they faced Borussia Dortmund in the 1994-95 semi-finals. Pogba’s replacement and fellow France international Adrien Rabiot almost scored the first goal when he drew a smart reflex save out of Mark Flekken as he also kept out Juan Cuadrado’s free-kick.

Bremer missed a glaring chance when he failed to find an open goal in the 31st minute, the defender headed over the bar from just two yards out. Juve finally made the breakthrough eight minutes into the second half, when Di Maria scored from a header from Filip Kostic’s cross. Freiburg thought they had equalised in the 62nd minute but, following a VAR review, Lucas Holer’s volley was ruled out as Matthias Ginter had handled the ball in the build-up. Vincenzo Grifo was then whiskers away with a free-kick that recorded their only attempt on goal, as the Serie A side saw out a narrow victory.

Roma have one foot in the quarterfinals after beating Real Sociedad 2-0 in the Italian capital. Jose Mourinho’s side, who won the Europa Conference League last season, got off to a perfect start when he scored an early goal from a counter-attack as Stephan El Shaarawy finished off a flowing move. Marash Kumbulla’s late header then wrapped up the victory of the Roman Giants as Sociedad had a chance to half the deficit but Mikel Merino missed a golden opportunity to equalise.

Also read: Arsenal draw against Sporting in the 1st leg of their round 16 match in the Europa League