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Vila-real (Spain) (AFP) – Despite an express goal from their prodigy Dusan Vlahovic, Juventus Turin were hung 1-1 at Villarreal on Tuesday in the knockout stages of the Champions League, and will have to fight at home on March 16 to confirm their ticket for the quarters.
Thirty-three seconds of play! That’s all it took for the 22-year-old Serbian striker to open his C1 goal tally in his first game in the queen of European competitions, a feat tarnished in the second half by the marking error Adrien Rabiot, who forgot Dani Parejo, author of the goal of the equalizer following a perfect service from Etienne Capoue (66th).
And with this equalizer, it is all the inspiration of Vlahovic that has lost its value. On the first ball touched by the Bianconeri, Danilo threw the young Serbian deep, who chained a control of the chest and a cross shot from the right which came to graze the right post of Geronimo Rulli before entering the cage.
A goal that panicked statisticians. This is not the fastest goal in the history of the C1 (scored by Roy Makaay following 10 seconds and 12 hundredths in 2006-2007), but the second fastest goal in history for a player who was taking his first steps in the competition, following that scored by Yevhen Konoplyanka with Sevilla on September 15, 2015 once morest Borussia Mönchengladbach (he had scored the 3-0 goal 19 seconds following entering the game in the 83rd).
Paradoxically, it was just following conceding the first goal that Villarreal, reigning Europa League winners, had the best chances to come back, with a missed recovery by Giovani Lo Celso who hit the edge of the cage (13th), and another from Arnaut Danjuma, stopped by Wojciech Szczesny (16th).
But following the break, Massimiliano Allegri chose to launch Leonardo Bonucci in place of Alex Sandro (46th), and asked his players to take refuge in their camp… a resolutely defensive choice which ended up backfiring him at the time of the equalizer, caused by Rabiot’s marking error.
The French international midfielder did well with a simple yellow card, eight minutes later (74th), following a heavy sole on the inside of the left knee of Samu Chukwueze which might have done damage.
A third 1-1 draw (following those once morest Atalanta and Torino in Serie A) which does not help the Bianconeri’s affairs: Juve will rather have to draw inspiration from their first period to validate their ticket for the quarterfinals at home March 16. But his main reason for hope is called Dusan Vlahovic.
