Juventus fielded largely teenagers, but still managed an impressive 2-0 friendly win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium with two own goals.
There was a minute’s silence before kick-off at the Emirates Stadium for former Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, who died on Friday at the age of 53 from leukaemia.
It was a very weakened Bianconeri side full of young players and bolstered by additions from the NextGen squad.
Arsenal had a strong start, Nelson hitting the side-netting and Mattia Perin kept out a Fabio Vieira volley, while Eddie Nketiah had a goal disallowed for offside.
Moments later, Nketiah caught the defence napping and thumped the upright of an empty net.
Juve finally woke up with a couple of Tommaso Barbieri efforts before taking the lead against the run of play thanks to a bizarre Granit Xhaka own goal, flicking on the Nicolò Fagioli cross into the far top corner.
Max Allegri’s men continued to defend deep and Nketiah had the ball in the net again, but only after Gabriel had fouled Alessandro Pio Riccio with a nasty clash of heads.
Riccio recovered to get in the way of another Vieira strike from the edge of the box, while third-choice goalkeeper Carlo Pinsoglio took a huge risk when dribbling away from Nketiah inside the penalty area.
In stoppages, Juventus doubled their lead with another stroke of luck, combining with Joseph Nonge Boende down the left for his low cross-shot to take a deflection off Rob Holding and go in from six yards. Unlike the Xhaka own goal, this time Samuel Iling-Junior’s attempt did seem to be on target regardless.
Arsenal 0-2 Juventus
Xhaka og 45 (J), Holding og 91 (J)
Juventus: Perin; Rugani, Gatti, Riccio; Barbieri, Fagioli, Locatelli, Barrenechea, Soulé; Miretti, Kean
Arsenal: Ramsdale; White, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Xhaka, Partey; Nelson, Odegaard, Vieira; Nketiah
What do you mean stun? Arsenal are totally overrated (only one fan in this forum). Watch them implode in the second half of the season.
clearly fatecisognare didnt watch the game, arsenal dominated the whole game, they score a own goal and samuel goal was a big deflection to score. we created 0 chances
oooo, 2nd goal was a own goal as well
2 goals with 1 shot on target. That’s clinical beyond measure. Only respect.
Humpty playing in the EPL is the most challenging for players wanting to test themselves. It is only a friendly. Put Wendy’s in that league and they will have Brighton and Nottingham Forest run rings around them. Who knows they would be in relegation territory and might go down. Lucky that they can remain the dumpster capital of graveyard calcio.
You guys must be great at a party, if you’re ever allowed out. So much humour.
I bet at your party the catering is pure fish and chips, pg tips, pale ale, 2 people turn up and everyone goes home at 8pm lol.
woooooaaaah – lord allegri – pg tips is for us asian=pakistani / indian/bengali tea drinkers, the english use tetley tea bags