The Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, witnessed an unbelievable contest between the home team, Juventus, and German visitors Borussia Dortmund, with the home team staging a crazy comeback to draw the match. The 8-goal second-half thriller, the first round of the latest UEFA Champions League season, swung from despair to utter joy in a matter of seconds.
The first half was a goalless effort from both teams as they appeared cagey, though Juventus had the upper hand, only to be denied by Gregor Kobel, Dortmund’s Swiss goalkeeper. But the second half had the spectators at the edge of their seats as both teams got into an attacking, swift, flowing mode.
Dortmund drew first blood with Karim Adeyemi striking with a fine left footer in the 52nd minute, which opened the floodgates. Yildiz equalised in the 63rd minute, but Dortmund went ahead two minutes later through a Nmecha goal. But Juventus were not sitting back as substitute Dusan Vlahovic equalised yet again two minutes later with a super strike from outside the box. In 4 minutes the match had witnessed 3 goals.
Couto again got Dortmund ahead in the 74th minute, with Gregorio in the Juventus goal unable to stop the strike at the near post. The goal could have been saved, but it was not Gregorio’s day. The visitors were 3-2 ahead and were galloping to a fine win when they won a penalty in the 86th minute, which Bensebaini converted for a 4-2 lead. It was all over for Juventus, many thought, but the resilience had not surrendered yet.
Vlahovic once again came to the rescue of Juventus, 4 minutes into stoppage time, and then assisted Englishman Lloyd Kelly, who buried an excellent header in the 6th minute of stoppage time to force a draw. Vlahovic was the man of the hour. His finishing was brilliant, and so was his overall game. Igor Tudor, Juventus’ Manager, went for a crazy run in sheer joy while the stadium erupted in an unbelievable applause as Kelly netted the equaliser.
Dortmund couldn’t do much. Their opponents had just refused to give in and had to settle for a painful draw.
A riveting start indeed to the Champions League.
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