Paris Saint-Germain matches? When it comes to promotion from the group, the key will be a tie with Benfica – he said right after the draw Massimiliano AllegriWho seems to want to take the pressure off the Juventus players a little bit. But after losing 1:2 in the first round, the pressure wasn’t low. Allegri knew that Juventus had to beat Benfica in Turin. The match started perfectly for him.
Already in the fourth minute, Leandro Paredes crossed from a free kick, and Arkadiusz Milik showed a superb shot to the head. This time no one canceled it with a goal. This was the pole’s first shot in this match and the goal was scored instantly. But the interesting: this is the third match for Juventus, in which his first shot ends with a goal. It was the same against Spezia (2:0) and Fiorentina (1:1).
Juventus strangled the visitors at the start of the match, attacking their opponents with several throws from the right and left sides of the field. But after 20 minutes, Benfica began to leave his half more and more. And they attack shyly. First, Rafa Silva hit the post from a distance, then – in the 42nd minute – 19-year-old Fabio Meretti das in the Juventus penalty area on the leg of Gonzalo Ramos. And Joao Mario, the former Inter Milan player, replaced the penalty kick in the goal.
Immediately after the break, Milik showed off a powerful shot from a distance, but the goalkeeper remained vigilant. Juventus seemed to be pressing, but nothing could be more wrong. It was Benfica who started to dominate, but Mattia Perin put in a great performance against Torino, or was lucky, as Rafa Silva hit the post. However, the replacement of Wojciech Szczesny was not happy in the 55th minute. Perrin saved the first shot, but with David Neres’ rebound he was helpless.
In the 70th minute, Milik left the stadium and the fans started whistling. But, most likely, it was not about the position of the pole, because he was an outstanding football player from the hosts. Instead, fans expressed their displeasure with Allegri’s decision to allow Moise Kean onto the pitch.
The former Paris Saint-Germain striker was able to silence critics in no time, but he hit the post and Angela Di Maria’s rebounding was terrible. In the 83rd minute, Dusan Vlahovic hit the net, but the Serbian was offside. And here it is worth opening the arc: the former Fiorentina sniper was completely ineffective in Wednesday’s match.
Juventus could not do more, they lost 1: 2 and after two rounds they had no points.
The leader of Group H is PSG, who beat Maccabi Haifa in the first leg 2:1. The French champions have six points as do leaders Benfica. Leagues Portwalska.
Allegri failed to come back
Allegri on his first venture with Juventus reached two Champions League finals (both losers), but recent years have been disastrous for Torino. They haven’t played in the semi-finals in four years. A year ago – when Allegri returned – I knocked Porto out of the World Cup finals 1/8. Will it get worse now? Juventus may not be left out of the group.
Wednesday results:
- Milan 3:1 Dinamo Zagreb
- Shakhtar Donets 1:1 Celtic
- Chelsea 1-1 Salzburg
- Copenhagen 0-0 Sevilla
- Juventus 1: 2 Benfica
- Maccabi 1:3 PSG
- City 2: 1 Borussia
- Rangers 0:3 Napoli
- Real Madrid 2-0 Leipzig
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