Juventus 2-2 Rennes: Woltemade rescues Old Lady

Nick Woltemade helped Juventus avoid two straight defeats as they secured a 2-2 draw against Stade Rennais in Matchday Three of the Europa League at the Allianz Stadium on Thursday.

The hosts nearly won, only for Jhon Lucumi’s late winner to be disallowed after VAR intervention.

The Bianconeri went into the tie off a dismal Serie A run, having been thrashed 3-0 on the same pitch by Lazio.

They boasted a 100 percent Europa League record after beating NEC 5-0 and completing a comeback 2-1 win away to Celta Vigo in their first two games.

Juventus went ahead within five minutes, as Woltemade timed the slide-rule pass perfectly to send Zeki Celik down the right and spring the offside trap, beating Bryce Samba with an angled drive.

However, Rennes quickly restored parity as Bryan Reynolds knocked back a cross to Musa Al-Taamari, who turned in from six yards to draw level.

Juventus attacked again, but Samba palmed away Federico Gatti’s header.

Another chance to regain the lead came, but Weston McKennie failed to take advantage of a double chance. 

Sensational Samba initially denied him, then the American somehow hit the upright on the rebound from point-blank range.

 Guglielmo Vicario was also called into action a few minutes later on a well-placed Mahamadou Nagida volley at the far post.

The hosts kept the momentum and began taking more of the initiative.

However, they received a harsh penalty when a corner was cleared, and Douglas Luiz saved another Nagida volley before falling over, landing with his arm charging it down.

Having spotted it immediately, the referee pointed to the spot, and ex-Lazio striker Boulaye Dia converted by sending Vicario the wrong way.

Pierre Kalulu, who came on for the restart, nearly scored within four minutes, nodding the Andrea Cambiaso cross wide after clashing heads with Nagida.

Vicario made another top save as Al-Taamari dribbled through defenders, cut inside from the left, and shot.

Nico Gonzalez was introduced on the hour mark, and Juventus raised their game.

After switching to four at the back, Gonzalez’s header from a Douglas Luiz free kick struck Reynolds on the arm, and the referee awarded a penalty.

Woltemade converted a straight-down-the-middle run to draw Juventus level, sparking the Bianconeri back to life.

In search of the winner, McKennie’s pull-back from the byline for a Woltemade effort was deflected wide by Creswell, then Koopmeiners’ scorcher from distance was straight at Samba.

Woltemade continued tormenting the Rennes backline with two headers in quick succession from six yards: one deflected, the other wide on the resulting corner.

Juventus had the ball in that net with two minutes to go, but the referee called offside after checking the monitor.

Koopmeiners flicked in a free kick, and it took a series of ricochets to land kindly for Jhon Lucumi, who was offside after Koopmeiners made the initial flick, and drilled in from 12 yards after a big deflection off Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal. 

However, VAR spotted Lucumi was offside, and the referee decided it was enough to disallow the goal.

Rennes locked down their defense and held on for an important point.