Europa League – Half time Report: Juventus versus Lech Poznan
Juventus took on Lech Poznan in their first match of the Europa league group stages. The men from Turin were looking to bounce back and get their season on track as their start to the Serie A has been woeful to say the least. Juventus drew against Sampdoria,
this past week to make it one draw and one loss in their two games in the Italian league in the 2010-2011 season.
The Italian giants qualified for the Europa League as a courtesy of their seventh place finish in the Serie A season which ended in May of 2009. Juve started with Alex Manninger in goal. In front of him, Juve deployed Lengrottaglie and Chiellini in central
defence. At right back Grygera took his usual spot whilst Ceglie was used by Del Neri at the left back spot.
In midfield, Sissoko played in the middle of the park and he was accompanied by Felipe Melo in central midfield. On the left hand side of attack, Krasic took his regular berth whereas Lanzafame took his spot on the right wing. Up front, Iaquinta was Juventus’s
secondary striker along with Alessandro Del Piero as the fulcrum of their attack.
Poznan started with the following line up of players. They had K. Kotorowski in between the goal posts. In defence they used their strong men such as G. Wojtkowiak, I. Djurdjevic, M. Arboleda and L. Henriquez. In the middle of the park, M. Kikut, S. Krivets,
D. Injac and S. Peszko were tasked with the creative duties. In attack, A. Rudnevs and S. Stilic were given the responsibility to score goals for the European minnows.
In the 6th minute of the match, right at the start, Poznan forced Juventus back and got their first corner of the match. However, the ensuing set piece delivery was disappointing and Juventus successfully dealt with the Lech Poznan attack. After
12 minutes had passed, Juventus broke into their first proper attack of the game and their talisman, Del Piero got a shot off on target. His strike was kept out by the Poznan goal keeper as Juventus were forced to start off again from scratch.
Felipe Melo was the first Juventus played to go into the referee’s book on the night, the foul took place inside the Juventus penalty area and therefore referee blew his whistle for a spot kick to Poznan. The Brazilian midfielder is famous for his tough
tackling approach but in modern football, especially in European competitions, physical play is often discouraged. Juventus looked tense at the start of the match and conceded possession way to often to impose their authority on the encounter.
Poznan on the other hand seemed to be un-intimidated by the atmosphere in Turin and they were first ones to strike through the penalty kick that they were awarded as a result of Melo’s rash tackle and their striker Artjoms Rudnevs converted the kick easily
for the underdogs. In the 30th minute of the match, Rudnevs struck again to double his sides lead against the former Italian champions, the striker produced a fine finish to beat Juventus’s second choice goal keeper.
Juventus had good opportunities to score themselves but their wasteful finishing came back to haunt them time and again as Poznan were not shy in pushing forwards themselves in order to score a goal. In the 36th minute of the match, Momo Sissoko
became the second player to get booked from Juventus.
The Italian giants came back in the match as they got their first goal right before the half time whistle; the goal came through an unlikely avenue as Giorgio Chiellini produced good strike to get his team back in the game which was taking place on their
home ground in Turin. At half time, the score lay at 2-1 to Poznan but Juventus will be looking forward to saving themselves some face when the second half kicks off.
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