Champions League: Juventus held by Club Brugge

Juventus were held to another disappointing stalemate in their UEFA Champions League clash away to Club Brugge.

The Turin club had an opportunity to take maximum points, but a shocking Nico Gonzalez miss summed up the night for the Bianconeri as their Champions League campaign limped on.

The Bianconeri went into the tie with high morale, having their confidence boosted by a 2-0 Serie A during the weekend.

They entered the tie, leading them only one point ahead of the Belgians in the new structured standing.

 During their last Champions League outing, Club Brugge lost 3-1 to Milan when down to 10 men. They also defeated Aston Villa and Sporting CP, with Zaid Romero out after dental surgery.

Despite their possession, Juventus struggled to create any scoring opportunities. One of the half chances came the way of Douglas Luiz, who scuffed the half-volley wide after twice controlling with his shoulder.

After the first half of the clash, both sides had the first genuine scoring opportunity. When Michele Di Gregorio saved Juve’s goal, he got into a mess when playing out from the back and was fortunate to see Ferran Jutglà drill inches wide from the edge of the area.

Nico Gonzalez missed a glorious chance in 51 minutes when Mbangula pulled across from the left, but he was with him. He had an opportunity to sweep home relatively undisturbed from 10 yards, but he stumbled on the ball and wasted that gift.

Teun Koopmeiners’ shot went over the bar while Raphael Onyedika nodded off-target from a corner.

Locatelli unleashed a rocket that forced  Simon Mignolet to palm the ball around the post on 85 minutes.

Then,  Brugge countered on the resulting corner, and Di Gregorio rushed out to deny Talbi.