WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2026
Ticker

Juventus achieve dramatic draw against Bayern Munich

afp

Super-sub Stefano Sturaro came off the bench to hit a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich as outclassed Juventus rescued their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.

Bayern dominated throughout a one-sided encounter at a packed Juventus Stadium and took a 43rd-minute lead through Thomas Mueller.

Arjen Robben doubled the Germans' advantage on 55 minutes but the 2013 champions paid for a series of earlier misses when Paulo Dybala netted on the hour and Sturaro hit a dramatic leveller 14 minutes from time.

It leaves the tie still very much alive, although on this performance Pep Guardiola's men will be favourites to secure their last-eight place after the second leg in three weeks' time.

Guardiola, however, is taking nothing for granted.

"Juventus made it to last year's final, not us. We're not dealing with a team from the provinces," said the Spaniard, who admitted he was highly impressed with Bayern's display.

Guardiola, who will take over at Manchester City in the summer, added: "I'm really happy with how we played. It's one of the matches from my career that I want to remember the most."

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri could not say the same, admitting his side had been error-strewn in the opening half.

"In the first half they pushed us hard in our own half and we just couldn't settle. We started making a lot of mistakes with our passes and didn't use the space well, but let's not forget we were playing Bayern," said the Italian, who steered Juve to last year's final, where they lost 3-1 to Barcelona.

"After the interval we played a lot better. We might have even snatched the win at the end, but we will need to make sure there's no repeat of our first half when we go to Munich."

Injuries to Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber forced Guardiola into naming a makeshift defence with Joshua Kimmich and David Alaba filling in at centre-back.

But Bayern travelled to Turin as the only foreign team to have beaten Juve at home in the past decade, and it was quickly apparent the lack of a solid centre-half pairing would not be felt.

Juve's fans watched with silent awe as Bayern squatted in the home side's half, kept possession and limited any Juve forays past the centre circle.

On their way to being denied a penalty when the ball came off Arturo Vidal's arm from Paul Pogba, the chances from there on were few and far between for the Serie A leaders.

Former Juve midfielder Vidal threatened with a crisp volley from the edge of the area that forced Gianluigi Buffon into a two-handed punch.

Then on 14 minutes Mueller should have broken the deadlock only to miss a virtually empty net after Robert Lewandowski's pass from deep inside the six-yard box left Buffon scrambling.

Douglas Costa's good work and persistence down the left flank finally paid off three minutes before half-time when he volleyed a ball into the box that Juve's backline failed to clear.

It fell to Mueller, who this time made no mistake from 12 yards out, rolling the ball past a desperate Buffon.

SHARE ON

Champions League: Messi double-strike punctures Gunner's dream

The Goan Network
Published Feb 25, 2016, 12:00 AM IST
SHARE ON

afpLionel Messi left Arsenal spellbound as the Barcelona striker's clinical double sealed a 2-0 last 16, first leg victory that put the Champions League holders firmly on course for the quarter-finals on Tuesday.Barca coach Luis Enrique joked this week that all he needed to do was shout 'Abracadabra' for Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez to deliver the kind of magic display that would bewilder the Gunners.On this occasion, it was Messi who answered his coach's call with a…

READ MORE
Home HOME News GOA NEWS Global GLOBAL GOENKAR Search SEARCH