Villarreal vs Juventus: Dusan Vlahovic's goal not enough as Juve held to a 1-1 draw

Dusan Vlahovic gave Juventus a dream start as he found the back of the net within 32 seconds, but Villarreal equalised through Daniel Parejo to make it all square at El Madrigal.

Dusan Vlahovic scored in Juventus' 1-1 draw against Villarreal in the Champions League last-16 tie; Credit: Twitter/@ChampionsLeague
By Sreejith C R | Feb 23, 2022 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Dusan Vlahovic gave Juventus a dream start as he found the back of the net within 32 seconds, but Villarreal equalised through Daniel Parejo to make it all square at El Madrigal in the Champions League last-16 first leg fixture. The Bianconeri were without Paulo Dybala, Federico, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci was only fit for the bench. Meanwhile Villarreal missed striker Paco Alcacer, Gerard Moreno, Francis Coquelin and Ruben Pena. 

Also read: Chelsea vs Lille: Havertz and Pulisic on target as the Blues win 2-0 to take control of Champions League last-16 tie

Villareal were trying to play their way into the opposition half when Danilo intercepted a ball in the midfield and delivered a perfect overhead pass to find the run of Vlahovic in between two defenders. The Serbian forward collected the ball on his chest and slotted home past Geronimo Rulli into the far bottom corner from 12 yards out.

At 22 years and 25 days old, Vlahovic is the second youngest player to score on Champions League debut for Juventus after Alessandro Del Piero made his mark aged 20. Vlahovic was signed from Fiorentina in the January transfer window for an initial EUR 70 million transfer fee and has been phenomenal for the Turin side, having netted three times in six games so far. 

Alvaro Morata played a brilliant flick to release Vlahovic, but the Serbian instead of returning the pass to the Spaniard, who ran into a better position, went for the goal and saw his effort comfortably blocked by the defender. 

Villarreal could have equalised on 13 minutes when left-back Alfonso Pedraza dribbled his way inside the box and passed the ball to Giovani Lo Celso in front of goal, but the Argentine footballer slipped at the crucial moment and scuffed the ball onto the up right. Two minutes later, Arnaut Danjuma’s back-heel flick effort from Samuel Chukwueze’s low cross was denied by Juve keeper Wojciech Szczęsny’s quick reaction save.

Morata fired over from a promising position and Weston McKennie’s effort was blocked by the defence. Matthijs de Ligt intercepted a dangerous Lo Celso cross-shot in the six-yard box. After the break, Morata’s first-time effort from McKennie’s cross went wide before Moreno’s scuffed attempt was comfortably collected by Szczesny at the near post. 

Parejo’s equaliser

Villarreal were pushing hard for the goal and finally got it on 66 minutes, when Parejo timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap, get inside the box and volley in from Capoue’s floated ball over the top. De Ligt was furious with his defence as none of the defenders marked Parejo’s run.

Adrien Rabiot was fortunate to avoid a red card moments later, for his studs up challenge on Chukwueze and escaped with a yellow card. McKennie went off after an awkward fall before Morata and Vlahovic combined once again to create a chance, but the latter’s shot from the edge of the box was saved by Rulli. 





Related Post

HIGHLIGHTS

Buzzwords