UYL | Juve record first three points!

Paolo Montero's Juventus Under 19s get their first victory in the UEFA Youth League and does so convincingly against Maccabi Haifa. It all happened in the second half: Kenan Yildiz scored Juventus' opener, and although the Israelis responded with Hamza Shibli's effort, Luis Hasa and Lorenzo Anghelè restored the advantage that saw Juve close out the match with a good 3-1 victory that relaunches Juve in the standings, whilst waiting for the face-off between PSG and Benfica.

THE MATCH

After the defeat against PSG and the draw with Benfica, the Juventus Under 19 team took to the field in Vinovo with only one goal in mind: their first European victory of their season. In order to do this, Paolo Montero's team relied on their usual mentality and, not surprisingly, the first chances of the match fell to the Bianconeri. First Hasa, on 12 minutes just failed to get his shot on target, then Dean Huijsen on 25', forces the opposing goalkeeper into making a big save. Maccabi Haifa tried to rally but to no avail, however despite Juve chances at the end of the half both teams went into the break at 0-0.

A few moments after the start of the second half, the episode that changed the match arrived. The jolt to the game is given by Yildiz, who, played in by Bayron Strijdonck, frees himself in the area, draws the opponents in and then, just manages to get a shot off into the back of the net to score his first UYL goal and fifth overall of the season. A goal down, Maccabi Haifa immediately reacts and after an initial warning the Israelis draw level in the 53rd minute, with Shibli finishing a nice move from the visitors. Now, it's up to Juve to restore the advantage and on 70 minutes Montero's men earn a penalty, however Hasa's effort is saved by the keeper. He would go onto redeem himself however, shortly after, with Hasa dribbling past two opponents and then hitting a powerful right-footed shot to make 2-1 to Juve and restore the advantage. Then on 79 minutes the match-winning goal arrives, after some wonderful play by Strijdonck to tee-up Anghelè, who on his Youth League debut finishes with aplomb to make it three goals scored and three valuable points earned!

POST-GAME COMMENTS

Paolo Montero: "Today the three points arrived and it's important for us to continue fighting for the goal that we set ourselves. We are here to help the boys grow because from here they have to make the leap in quality and you need to know how to face certain matches in the right way. This team has a lot of quality, we've always scored since I've been here, but we must understand that quality is not enough, games must be sealed when you have the chance, today we could have closed it in the first half. There are many games to go and it becomes important to know how to manage them. Mistakes are part of the game, especially at their age, we are here to help identify them and put them right."

Luis Hasa: "This result helps us to believe in reaching the next round. We knew it was an important match, a must-win match, just as the return match will be. We must continue like this. Today, after the first goal we broke free, they gained some confidence after the draw, but then we played very well. It would have been better to score the penalty to avoid a bit of anxiety, but I made a good move and it went well. I'm happy. Now, let's think about recovering and focusing on the details."