Europa League – Match Review: Juventus versus Lech Poznan
Juventus took on Lech Poznan in an action filled first match of their group stage campaign for the Europa League. Juventus who have strong European cup pedigree qualified for the Europa League through their seventh place finish in the 2009-2010 Serie A.
Lech Poznan made their first appearance in the Europa League against Juventus and they didn’t fail to excite.
In the first half, the European minnows played on the counter attack and successfully got the first goal of the match in the 14th minute of the match as their striker was fouled inside the penalty area by Felipe Melo; as a result the referee blew
for a penalty kick. Lech’s striker Rudnevs converted the spot kick into a goal and gave his team a 1-0 lead.
After the goal was scored, Juventus came back to life and started playing some good football. They controlled the ball well and started to create some good chances for themselves too. The match increased in goal scoring action suddenly as Del Piero had two
good chances to draw their team level. However, Juventus failed to utilize these chances properly. On the other hand their opponents also held their own as far as defensive duties were concerned.
Juve’s missed chances came back to haunt them as in Rudnev’s scored again for Poznan to give his team a surprisingly comfortable two goal lead over the ex-European and Italian champions. Juventus’s players looked heartbroken at going two goals down but they
soon recovered their composure and struck back before the end of the first half. In the injury time that was added on by the referee, the Bianconeri came back into the game through their defender Chiellini.
Another Juventus player who got booked in the first half of the match was the ex-Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko. He was penalized for a late challenge which was executed near the half way line mark.
Afterwards both the teams resumed play in the second half of the match, Melo and Sissoko were relatively more relaxed with their tackling as both the midfielders were on a tight disciplinary leash as far as bookings went. Poznan took confidence from their
first half lead and continued to play the way they were following the first period of the encounter. Their striker Rudnevs was particularly threatening in front of the Juventus goal and on most occasions he was a handful for the Italian club’s defence.
In the 50th minute of the match, in the second half, Juventus buoyant due to their overwhelming home support scored the equalizer through Chiellini; Alessandro Del Piero was instrumental in the build move which led to the attack. Del Piero was
by far Juventus’s most creative player in the match and became the director of their attacking traffic throughout the first as well while showing similar traits in the second half.
In the 55th minute of the match, Juventus made a substitution as Simone Pepe replaced Davide Lanzafame on the left side of Juventus’s midfield. Pepe also featured for Italy in the FIFA 2010 World Cup but his performance for his national team
was not at all spectacular. In the 65th minute of the match, Slawomir Peszko in Lech Poznan was booked for his unsporting behaviour henceforth he was shown a yellow card by referee Vladislav.
Alessandro Del Piero scored a fantastic goal for his team in the 68th minute. Through the veteran striker’s goal, Juventus went into the lead which in all honesty they didn’t deserve. Poznan however did not take this injustice lying down; they
pushed on until the bitter end and scored right at the end in the final minute of the match with their striker Rudnevs.
At the final whistle the match ended in a three all draw, which was a very good result for Lech Poznan as they were not even considered competitive enough before this encounter.
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