Champions League - Wesley Sneijder sends Juventus crashing out

The crucial match between the two clubs was postpnoed on Tuesday after 31 minutes due to a downpour of hail and snow, and conditions were hardly much better as Roberto Mancini's side joined Real Madrid in progressing from Group B.

Within seconds of the restart the game looked certain to fall victim to further farce when the ball became stuck in the thick brown mud coating the surface, but the flanks were dotted by green patches and play was just about possible over the white dusting in Istanbul.

The best chance of the truncated first half came to Carlos Tevez, who took the ball on following some good hold-up play from Fernando Llorente, burst into the box but then lost his footing on the slippy turf when swinging his right boot at the ball and only found the side netting.

The viscous surface made a short-passing game near impossible and so it was from a long-ball that Gala claimed the winner on 85 minutes, Didier Drogba flicking it on to Sneijder who took the ball superbly in his stride and stroked a lovely shot into the far corner past Gianluigi Buffon.