JUVENTUS swept to a 2-1 victory over Ajax in the other European Cup semi final in Amsterdam last night in a re run of last year's European Cup final.

Juventus needed a penalty shoot out to beat the Dutchmen in Rome, but this time there were goals from Nicola Amoruso in the 14th minute and Christian Vieri in the 41st to give the Italians victory.

Finnish striker Jari Litmanen pulled one back for Ajax in the 66th minute, but the scoreline still leaves Juventus clear favourites to reach next month's final in Munich.

Ajax, who lifted this trophy in 1995 before surrendering it to the Italians last May, have won all four of their away games so far in the European Cup. But, they still have a mountain to climb in Turin.

Marcello Lippi's men are unbeaten in the European Cup so far, and are unbeaten at home all season in the Italian Serie A, where they are league leaders with the best defensive record.

Juventus controlled the first half and with better finishing might already have put the second leg beyond the Dutchmen's reach. They did just enough in the second half to keep a more incisive Ajax side at bay.

Yet few could have expected an early goal in a match which began with neither side conceding an inch of space. It was 12 minutes before the first shot in anger - from Vieri after a through ball from midfielder Zinedine Zidane.

However, Juventus took the lead just two minutes later, when Vieri collected the ball outside the area, pushed it forward for Vladimir Jugovic, whose first time flick found Amomso unmarked.

Amoruso's shot hit the diving body of Ajax goalkeeper Edwin Van der Saar but the goalkeeper could not keep the ball out.

Ajax hit back but the next two chances fell to Vieri, a bullet header after 21 minutes and an attempted close range volley, both of which Van der Saar was able to block.

Juventus delivered another body blow in the 41st minute. Didier Deschamps picked out Vieri and the striker, who recently scored Italy's 1,000th international goal, fired home a low shot into the right hand corner which caught Van der Saar completely flat footed.

The strike also bridged the generation gap as it was Vieri's father Bob who scored Juventus' winner 28 years ago in the first meeting between these two clubs.

Amoruso nearly made it 3-0 just before the break, while Zidane missed another volleyed chance within minutes of the restart. Vieri then forced a desperate save from Van der Saar after leaving the Ajax defence for dead with a superb one two with Jugovic.

But Ajax did not give up, and Litmanen revived their hopes when he sprung Juventus' offside trap to collect Richard Witschge's defence splitting pass through the middle, and beat Peruzzi from point blank range.

Lippi was glad to have won, but also disappointed at missing the chance to have killed the semifinal at the first attempt. You've got to remember we were playing against a very good team and we played very well in the first half and scored two goals," he said.

"But to be completely honest and objective about it, there's a few regrets - both for me and for the players - that we didn't convert all the scoring chances we had - and there were six or seven of them."

As for Litmanen's goal, Lippi said: "It can happen that the other team creates chances - especially when that team is called Ajax."

Deschamps said: "We took some risks, with Zidane playing almost as a third striker, but it's a tactic which paid off - just as it did in Rome in last year's final." (Juventus had Alessandro Del Piero as a third striker with Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli).