Atletico Madrid 2-2 Juventus
Group D of the 2019/20 Champions League is underway and in the clash of the two big guns, Atletico and Juventus shared the points in a four-goal thriller in Madrid.
After a goalless first half, the match exploded into life in the second as Juve went two goals ahead before the hosts fought back to level it up in the 90th minute.
This game was the start of a revenge mission for the Rojiblancos after losing their round of 16 tie to Juventus in last season’s competition, having led 2-0 after the first leg. So to come back from a two-goal deficit in this game must have been sweet.
Highlights of the game
This was a game for SBOBET Champions League fans to look forward to, with both sides expected to progress to the latter stages. Roared on by a packed Wanda Metropolitano crowd, Atleti started at a furious pace and came close three times in the space of three minutes.
With 10 minutes gone, Diego Costa found Joao Felix in space in the centre of the box. The young Portuguese forward fired low towards the bottom right corner, but Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny tipped it round the post.
From Koke’s corner, Jose Gimenez rose highest to meet the ball but headed inches over the bar. And then Szczesny made an outstanding save when Kieran Trippier crossed for Felix to head towards the top corner from close range.
The busy Juve keeper was on hand again on 16 minutes to deny Renan Lodi, whose shot was destined for the bottom corner.
Midway through the first half, Los Rojiblancos keeper Jan Oblak saw his first action as he comfortably saved a long-range effort from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Former Spurs star Trippier says he was persuaded to make the switch to La Liga by the defensive coaching prowess of Diego Simeone. But the wingback is also a handful going forward, and he sent in another good cross which Stefan Savic met, but his header was blocked.
I Bianconeri began to grow into the game and both Gonzalo Higuain and Miralem Pjanic had shots from distance charged down. But the visitors struggled to carve out a clear-cut chance until Juan Quadrado crossed for Ronaldo, whose header was too close to Oblak.
Simeone will have been the more content manager at the break, but Maurizio Sarri was certainly the happier three minutes into the second half. Higuain found Quadrado with space and time in the centre of the box to fire an unstoppable shot into the top left corner.
It was harsh on the hosts, who had been the more ambitious in the first half, and they tried to hit back quickly. Trippier crossed for Gimenez but his header was blocked, and when the centre-back had a shot moments later, it flew narrowly past the top-right corner.
Juve delivered another hammer blow on 65 minutes when Alex Sandro crossed and Blaise Matuidi powered his header home. But the Rojiblancos were not beaten and halved the deficit five minutes later when their two centre-backs combined, with Gimenez flicking on a cross and Savic nodding home. Game on!
Koke tested Szczesny with a shot arrowed towards the bottom corner, and as the game began to get stretched, Oblak did well to save from Higuain after good work from Rodrigo Bentancur.
And with 90 minutes on the clock, Atleti grabbed the dramatic equaliser when Tripper swung in a corner and Hector Herrera directed his header into the bottom right corner to send the home fans wild.
Key statistics
The pre-match Atletico Madrid vs Juventus betting odds placed a draw at 3.15 and that was the fair result.
While Juventus had the lion’s share of possession, the hosts had more chances, winning the shot count by 19 to 11, with four to two on target.
Los Rojiblancos made it 11 games unbeaten at home with that last-gasp equaliser, while Juventus are unbeaten in five.
What’s next?
European football is back on 1st October when Atleti face Locomotiv Moscow and Juve host Bayer Leverkusen, and you can keep up with all the latest Champions League 2019 news right here at SBOBET.
In the meantime, it’s back to domestic matters. Los Rojiblancos sit in second place in La Liga, a point behind Sevilla, and they should put the leaders under more pressure on Saturday when they entertain 16th placed Celta Vigo back at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Four points is a modest start for the visitors, but they have already faced Real Madrid, taken a point from Sevilla and beaten Valencia, so they will be no pushover.
I Bianconeri would have expected to beat Fiorentina last time out in Serie A, but they were held to a goalless draw and will hope to get back to winning ways when they entertain midtable Verona on Saturday.
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