Goals: Juventus – Nantes – Played on 02/16/2023
French Nantes snatched a valuable draw against its host Juventus, with a goal for each team, in the match that brought them together at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, in the first leg of the knockout round, which qualifies for the final price of the European League.
Dusan Vlahovic led Juventus in the 13th minute, then Ludovic Blas equalized for Nantes in the 60th minute.
It is scheduled that the finalist will decide the price of the final next Thursday, when Juventus will be a guest on Nantes, in the return match that will be held at La Beaujoire Stadium in France.
Juventus entered the match with the right approach, took over, and dominated the match from the start. In the second minute, Angel Di Maria fired a missile shot from outside the area, which was blocked by the goalkeeper and removed from his goal.
The French team was close to scoring in the 10th minute after a corner was taken inside the area, Castellitto almost put it in the net after the Italian defense failed to disperse it, to fall in front of the Cameroonian, but Danilo succeeded with a decisive intervention in turning it away for a corner.
In the 13th minute, Juve succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, after a charming long pass from Di Maria to Keiza, who prepared it with a header the moment the goalkeeper went out to his colleague Vlahovic in front of the goal so that the striker put it with a shot into the net.
Juventus’ attack continued, and in the 31st minute, defender Jirotto almost accidentally scored a goal in his own net, after a cross that the goalkeeper got out of his goal the moment Jiroto turned the ball with a header, but it passed in front of the goal.
Paredes was close to scoring the second goal before the end of the first half, after a short corner, Paredes ran towards it to shoot it on goal, but Lavon shone and pushed it away from his own net.
At the start of the second half, Juventus had a new opportunity through Di Maria, who fired a powerful shot, but it reached the middle of the goal, in the hands of goalkeeper Lavon.
Nantes carried out a perfect counterattack in the 60th minute, which resulted in scoring the equalizer after a ball was kicked off by Castellito to pass it to Mustafa Mohamed, who passed it in a wonderful way across the field to his colleague Blass, who penetrated into the area and fired a shot into the net.
Two minutes later, Juventus almost equalized, after Vlahovic passed the ball to Chiesa on the left side inside the area, so Federico fired a missile shot that hit the crossbar and rebounded to hit the post and fall on the goal line, and the goalkeeper caught it quickly, to miss a sure goal on Juve.
Juventus’ attempts continued on the visitors’ goal, and in the 65th minute, Di Maria executed a corner kick from the right side of his team, as the Argentine star executed it with a direct shot that almost deceived the goalkeeper after it passed directly towards the goal to hit the crossbar and pass outside the goal.
Congolese Samuel Mutusamy, a Nantes midfielder, fired a missile shot in the 71st minute from a distance of 25 meters, to pass near the left post of goalkeeper Chesney.
Captain Danilo missed the chance of a goal scored in the 90 + 1 minute, after a free kick was taken inside the area and was dispersed by the defense, to reach Chiesa, who passed the ball over the defenders, to be met by Danilo with a shot on the bird, which passed over the crossbar.
And the series of wasted opportunities continued, and in the last minute of the match, Cuadrado passed a cross from the right into the six yards, and the duo Bremer and Locatelli rose to it, so that the first hit it with a header that passed higher than the crossbar.
The referee of the meeting returned to video technology in the last seconds to review Bremer’s header, which touched the hand of the Nantes defender and passed outside the area, to return and decide not to award a penalty kick and indicated that there was a case of pushing Bremer.
