UCL: Vlahovic rescues a precious point for Juventus at Lille

Juventus secured a valuable point after Dusan Vlahovic converted a soft penalty away to giant-killers Lille after the Jonathan David opener.

Having won their first two European fixtures, the Bianconeri were stunned 1-0 at home by VfB Stuttgart heading into this tie.

After losing to Sporting CP, the Ligue 1 side beat both Real Madrid 1-0 and Atletico Madrid 3-1. 

Jonathan David’s strike was charged down by Federico Gatti and Dusan Vlahovic had suspicions of offside as his angled drive flashed across the face of goal.

Teun Koopmeiners scored, but it was chalked off as Vlahovic had wandered offside during the buildup.

Lille then took the lead with a classic counter-attack. Zhegrova turned Juan Cabal and surged down the right, before sending David clear to beat the on-rushing Di Gregorio from a tricky angle.

Two huge opportunities came Juventus’ way in quick succession, but they failed to convert any of them. Chevalier flew for an acrobatic reaction save when Vlahovic volleyed the Manuel Locatelli cross. On the resulting corner, Mandi charged down a Kenan Yildiz effort at the back post.

Koopmeiners again scored but was unlucky in having his goal disallowed because Kenan Yildiz was offside this time in the buildup.

The visitors kept surging forward for an equalizer while the hosts seemed content to soak up pressure as they planned to hit them on the counter-attack. After flapping at Francisco Conceicao’s cross, Chevalie then parried the Khephren Thuram follow-up, too.

Juventus eventually got a lifeline via the penalty spot as Conceicao ran at defenders in the box and went over Andre’s leg. Vlahovic successfully converted the spot-kick and then looked further for another one to take maximum points back to Italy.

Thiago Motta’s side continued to dominate proceedings in search of a winner, leaving them with gaps at the back. Zhegrova stung Di Gregorio’s gloves and Andre nodded over on the resulting corner as they sighed relief, returning to Turin with a point.