At dawn on Wednesday in Turin, Juventus faced this daunting statistic: of the 49 teams that had lost by three goals in the first leg of the Champions League knockout rounds, only four had advanced.
Juventus fans know how difficult this is. The Bianconeri were one of those 49 teams in 2018, when they trailed Real Madrid 3-3 going into the second leg of the quarter-finals. They became the first team to lead Real Madrid 3-0 at the Bernabeu, but poor coaching decisions from Massimiliano Allegri and some truly poor refereeing saw their comeback attempts dashed at the death.
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Juve will have to accomplish a similar feat on Wednesday if they are to beat Galatasaray. Eight days ago, they had to force themselves to climb a mountain after losing 5-2 in the second half of the first leg. The Hill became more dangerous four minutes into the second half when Portuguese referee Joao Pedro Pinheiro sent off Lloyd Kelly for an undeserved yellow card. But Juventus kept going and leveled the score with eight minutes remaining.
But more than an hour into overtime, Juventus’ players finally got hurt. They simply couldn’t maintain the same energy after squandering early chances to advance. When Victor Osimhen slipped the ball through Mattia Perin’s legs (let’s say three times faster) in first-half stoppage time of extra time, it was a punch. It was all over when Baris Yilmaz slipped behind the defense to end the game. Juventus won 3-2 that night, their first victory in six games, but Galatasaray ended up winning 7-5 on aggregate.
Yet when the game was over, fans of a club who had jeered outside the stadium during last Saturday’s game against Como stood up and applauded their team, aware of the incredible effort they had shown and how remarkable it was that they had come so close.
Luciano Spalletti must decide how to play at left-back with two of his natural players, Andrea Cambiaso and Juan Caval, suspended for accumulated yellow cards and last week’s red card respectively. Dusan Vlahovich and Emile Holm were injured, leaving Grayson Bremer on the bench. Spalletti decided to use the 4-3-3 formation he had used a week earlier, with some minor changes to compensate for the mistakes of his full-backs. Mattia Perrin started in goal, giving troubled Michel DiGregorio a mentally healthy day. The surprise choice at left-back is none other than the versatile Weston McKennie, who joins Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti and Kelly in the backline. Kefren Thuram, Manuel Locatelli and Ten Kupmainas form the midfield trio, while Francisco Conceição and Kenan Yildiz form the attacking trio, flanking Jonathan David.
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Galatasaray coach Okan Bruuk actually got more His top piece will return for the second turn. He made just one change to the 4-2-3-1 formation that won last week. Ugurkan Cakir started in goal and was defended by Roland Salai, Davinson Sanchez, Abdelkham Bardakci and Ismael Jacobs. Former Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina returns from suspension and serves as a double pivot alongside Lucas Torreira. Yilmaz, Gabriel Sala and Noah Long were tied behind Osimhen in ninth place.
Early goals were vital if Juventus were to pull off the impossible, and they came close twice in the first 10 minutes, but neither Gatti nor Kupmenas were able to keep their headers off, instead shooting over the top. Palin had to be quick to stop Osim’s attack in the 11th over, but it was clear from the start that the visitors wanted to see their huge lead through the dark art of wasting time reacting to every collision, small or big, as if they were being felled by a sniper in the upper bowl. As annoying as this delaying tactic was, it also handed the initiative to Juventus, the only team looking to play directly.
As a result, they limited Gala to a few attempts, none of which were very meaningful. Juventus, meanwhile, powered up and attacked in the midfield, determined to score before half-time to close the gap. Locatelli broke through from distance, forcing Cakir to parry, and Conceicao collected a defensive header from the ensuing corner and curled a shot inches wide of the far post.
Kelly was booked for a late tackle on Sala in the 25th minute, although the contact was serious enough that the penalty was somewhat marginal. Yildiz’s first goal five minutes later was stunningly blocked when Cakir somehow managed to change direction and latched on to the bottom corner with his arm after a wicked deflection from Sanchez.
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But 10 minutes before half-time, Juventus finally made a breakthrough. Kupmainas caught Sanchez’s pocket in the frontcourt and passed the ball to David, who passed it to Thuram. Thuram was about to hit the ball for the first time when Torreira slid in and took the Frenchman out from behind. Torreira managed to avoid a yellow card for his challenge, but when it became clear that Conceição was not going to score, Perhera pointed it out when he fired the ball towards goal for the first time.
Manuel Locatelli stepped forward. In another example of how he’s been given the captain’s armband lately, Juventus’ No. 5 was an absolute nail in the coffin, allowing Cakir to coolly send his penalty kick to the right astray.
The goal sent a J Stadium, which had been hopeful but wary since the start of the game, into a frenzy. Juventus only managed two more shots in the first half. The first goal was a flick from Gatti that sailed into the keeper’s arms, and the second was a shot wide by Thuram after David’s horrific first touch in the box. Something else of interest is that Carlo Pinsoglio was sent to the bench after being booked for dissent, making him possibly the only man to receive a yellow card in the game before making his first appearance as a player.
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But before the game really got underway in the second quarter, things changed dramatically.
Kelly connected with Yilmaz on a header and when he landed, he caught Yilmaz in the back of his calf with his spike. Kelly could do little different than defy gravity, but Pinheiro reached for a second time and was booked. To add insult to injury, VAR official Tomasz Kwitcowski called Pinheiro to the pitchside monitor before the Portuguese official decided to dig deeper into the hole he had already dug for himself and upgrade it to a straight red, much to Kelly’s annoyance.
But Galatasaray’s plan to make the game impossible still hurt them. They continued to make the most of every incident and despite Juve being at a disadvantage, they were still in control. In the 55th minute, Yildiz was unlucky again as Sanchez blocked a shot – this time safely – before Gatti headed in another cross and Locatelli shot wide from a good position on the right.
Conceição squandered a great chance and could only muster a feeble shot at the near post before Osimhen looked to equalize for Gallas but Perin blocked two of his attempts in two minutes before Gatti produced an incredible block on Sala after a three-on-two breakdown to keep Juve ahead on the night.
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Despite the close call, Gallas’ management of the game was extremely poor and with 20 minutes left Cakir lost the final advantage when Kalulu’s low cross was misplaced and it was the perfect spot for Gatti, who held on after a corner kick. The scene erupted again when Gatti brought the ball into the center circle.
Gala is now in trouble and Buruk tries to calm things down by introducing the experience and leadership of Ilkay Gündogan. But it had no effect and Juventus continued to attack the media. In the 77th minute, Thuram made a brilliant run down the left, but he decided to cut open Koper in a one-on-one situation and then hit the ball too hard and lifted the ball over the crossbar. Yildiz then had to meet Jeremy Boga’s cross at the back post, but only flicked the ball onto the post.
But fate would call Weston McEnany. When Eden Zeglova sent a free kick to the back post, Kupmeiners headed the ball back and since Kelly’s red card, the Texan had snuck between Lemina and Torreira to head home from two yards out.
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Juventus had nine minutes left to try to equalize before having to endure extra time, with Yildiz completing a fine dribble in stoppage time only to shoot wide. Thirty minutes of overtime are needed to decide who advances to the last 16.
It could indeed be Juventus. Six minutes into overtime, Boga found an open McKennie in the penalty area. His shot was well placed, but he chose to be selfless, pushing the ball to the right and passing it to Zheglova. The Kosovo international still possesses excellent finishing and could have given Juventus the lead, but somehow he managed to deflect the ball wide and by a large margin.
That was Juve’s high water mark.
Old rivals Osimhen finally broke the Bianconeri’s lead after Ellen Elmali’s close call put Gallas back in the aggregate lead. Gatti, who had been a rock at the back when Juventus had to push forward, was slightly out of position when Yilmaz found the Nigeria international on the left and his effort to intercept the pass was only missed. Osimhen fired a low shot through Perin’s legs to deflate the J Stadium and put the Turkish giants back in front.
Juventus had one last chance to send the score into penalties when Žegrova tried to make amends with a vicious shot from a tight angle, but Cakir blocked it with one hand and Filip Kostic slipped as he tried to direct the rebound towards goal.
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By this point, Juventus were well and truly out of breath and it showed. They tried their best but Gallas was able to keep the ball for the first time all night. The game reached a climax when Wilfried Zingo, back in Turin for the first time since leaving three years ago, slid the ball across the center of the pitch for Yilmaz and Osimhen to chase it away. The winger won the match, leapfrogging Perrin and sealing the match.
The crowd stood and applauded the efforts of these players who had behaved like black and white lions over the past few minutes. There were many things that could have made the night different – Žegrova’s error being the biggest – but ultimately it was Istanbul’s second-half failure that ended with two goals resulting from no brainer on a night that was so close to history.
