22 October 2019
Two late strikes by Paulo Dybala ensured a late 2-1 home win for Juventus at Allianz Stadium against Lokomotiv Moscow. It was the visiting side that opened the scoring through Miranchuk in the first half, but a determined Bianconeri display saw them come back to secure their second win in Group D of the UEFA Champions League.
Maurizio Sarri went for a different looking line-up, with Rodrigo Bentancur slotting in behind Paulo Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo in the ‘trequartista’ role. The very first chance of the game fell to the Bianconeri inside the second minute of the game, when Paulo Dybala received the ball on the edge of the box. He fired in an angled daisy-cutter, but his effort struck an opposition player to see the ball go out and kiss the side netting.
LOKOMOTIV TAKE HALF TIME LEAD
Despite Juventus taking major stock of the ball possession in the opening 20 minutes of the game, Lokomotiv’s defence remained strong as they managed to block the attempts of Sami Khedira and Ronaldo. The Portuguese then had an excellent chance fall to him when Juan Cuadrado delivered in an excellent cross that met him at the far post, but he couldn’t direct it down towards goal as it flew over the open goalframe. The offside flag was then raised. Juventus came agonizingly close to taking the lead in the 28th minute when Miralem Pjanic delivered a free-kick into the box, Leonardo Bonucci came millimeters away from nodding it in, but it sailed across the goal. That in turn sparked a counterattack by Lokomotiv, as they then took the lead a minute later through Miranchuk, who connected onto the rebound of Szczesny’s initial save off Joao Mario. Dybala sent the ball into the back of Moscow’s net in the 40th minute, but the referee deemed it a no-goal after Guilherme had collided with Ronaldo just seconds prior.
JUVE PERSIST
After the break, Sarri introduced the services of Gonzalo Higuain up front in place of Khedira. The Bianconeri were dominating possession, but it was Lokomotiv who were holding out strong with their versatile backline doing everything they can to deny Juventus. Cuadrado, who was one of the most active and threatening players on the field, created an excellent goalscoring opportunity in the 62nd minute when he crossed in a low ball that skipped across the face of goal, disappointingly, no one got onto the end of it. Ten minutes later Higuain pulled off a beautiful move, where he turned, flicked the ball over Howedes and shot on the half-volley, only to see his conclusion go just wide of goal.
LA JOYA TURNS IT AROUND!
But through all the persistence, the Bianconeri did turn the scoreline around and it was through Dybala, who scored two goals in quick succession. The first came in the 77th minute when he struck an unstoppable curling effort that swerved into the top corner of the goal. Three minutes later, La Joya followed up with his second goal when he got onto the end of Guilherme’s save from Alex Sandro’s strike from distance to make it 2-1 and secure the win.
Juventus: Szczesny; Cuadrado, Bonucci, De Ligt, Alex Sandro; Khedira (Higuain 48’), Pjanic, Matuidi (Rabiot 64’); Bentancur; Dybala (Bernardeschi 82’), Cristiano Ronaldo
Substitutes: Buffon, Danilo, Higuain, Rugani, Rabiot, Demiral, Bernardeschi
Lokomotiv Moscow: Guilherme; Ignatyev, Howedes, Corluka, Idowu; Murilo; Al Miranchuk, Barinov, Krychowiak, Joao Mario; Eder
Substitutes: Kochenkov, Zhivoglyadov, Kolomeytsev, Kverkvelia, Magkeev, Tugarev, Kulikov
