Vlahovic puts Villarreal up against the ropes (1-1)

BarcelonaIn their return to the round of 16 of the Champions League, Villarreal will have to break new ground in the field of Juve following beating at home once morest the Italians in the first leg (1-1). The match, in fact, might not have started worse, as Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic took just 33 seconds to score the Piedmontese goal. Vlahovic, who recently joined Fiorentina, where he had become one of the most fashionable strikers in European football, has entered Juve on a good footing, scoring goals in both the league and his Champions League debut.

Villarreal, who arrived with the loss of their top scorer, Gerard Moreno, enjoyed possession of the ball at all times, but ran into a defense where Chiellini and Bonucci were down. However, during the first half De Ligt and Danilo managed to stop the offensive play of a Villarreal that would find the goal of the tie in the second half in a serious defensive error visiting. Although at the break Bonucci returned to the field of play, following a few days injured, the Italian defense went astray for five minutes. Parejo, who was tired of touching the ball in the middle of the field, took advantage of the spaces they had created with their movements Arnaut Danjuma and Giovani Lo Celso to score the goal of the tie alone, which leaves the open tie for the return match. Despite the dominance of the locals, who were fed up with approaching the goal of the Polish Szczesny, every time Juve managed to bring Vlahovic into play, the Italians had options to score. In the end, however, Unai Emery’s team avoided a result that would have made things very difficult for him.

Chelsea does not fail

In the other match of the day in the Champions League, Chelsea beat French Lille 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, with goals from German Kai Havertz in the first minutes and American Christian Pulisic in the second. part. The English, however, lost two important players such as Kovacic and Ziyech due to injury in a match in which they left well on their way to the quarter-finals.

• Cover page

• Last minute

• Find out

• Sections

• Profile