Daniel Osvaldo and Paul Pogba secured a 2-0 victory, but Juventus” data-scaytid=”3″>Juventus ran big risks against Trabzonspor.
Daniel Osvaldo and Paul Pogba secured a 2-0 victory, but Juventus ran big risks against Trabzonspor.
The Bianconeri were knocked out of the Champions League by Turkish side Galatasaray and began their Europa League campaign against Trabzonspor. Daniel Osvaldo was given his first Juve start, but Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Mirko Vucinic were injured. Souleymane Bamba and Florent Malouda missed out for the visitors.
Carlos Tevez blasted an early attempt over the bar, but Osvaldo marked his first start with his debut goal. He pounced on a lucky ricochet off Aykut Demir and kept his cool to place an angled drive across the goalkeeper.
The former Southampton striker was just unable to get on the end of a Mauricio Isla assist, while Emre Gural aimed a weak effort straight at Gigi Buffon.
Isla went on a mazy run down the right only to shoot at the on-rushing goalkeeper, while Tevez curled inches wide of the far post.
Tevez had another shot saved by the Trabzonspor goalkeeper before half-time, having done well to shake off a defender, then Federico Peluso finished off a counter-attack by drilling wide.
Osvaldo almost completed his brace straight after the restart, but was denied by the goalkeeper on a Tevez assist. Isla needed acrobatic defending to stop Olcan Adin getting a clean volley on a Turkish counter-attack and Buffon was irritated with his teammates when Paulo Henrique dispossessed Leonardo Bonucci to get a shot on target.
Trabzonspor thought they had equalised on 71 minutes with a classic counter-attack, but play had already been halted because when the pull-back found Olcan Adin, it had already crossed the by-line for a corner. It was a huge risk for the Bianconeri.
Kivrak only parried an Andrea Pirlo free kick, but just about managed to scramble it back under control before anyone could pounce.
Buffon was alert to smother an Olcan Adin free kick that burst through the wall, then a well-worked move involving Bonucci and Sebastian Giovinco fell apart when Tevez’s shot was charged down in the area.
Pirlo also had an effort blocked by a defensive body when set up by a Tevez backheel flick.
It was remarkably open in the final minutes with chances for both sides. Arturo Vidal gave the ball away and was glad Colman drilled wide.
At the 90th Fernando Llorente managed to roll back for Paul Pogba, whose shot bounced on to the upright with the goalkeeper stranded.
However, Trabzonspor had a double opportunity in stoppages. First a dangerous counter-attack was desperately scrambled clear, then Buffon flew to palm away an Olcan Adin effort.
Juve did eventually add a second to their tally, as Tevez rolled back across the face of goal for Pogba’s powerful finish from the edge of the box.
Juventus 2-0 Trabzonspor
Scorers: Osvaldo 16 (J), Pogba 94 (J)
Juventus: Buffon; Caceres, Ogbonna, Bonucci; Isla (Vidal 66), Pogba, Pirlo, Marchisio (Giovinco 76), Peluso; Tevez, Osvaldo (Llorente 66)
Trabzonspor: Onur Kivrak; Mustafa Yumlu, Aykut Demir, Bosingwa, Kadir Keles, Zokora, Bourceanu (Erdogan 66), Colman, Ozer Hurmaci (Mierzejewski 81), Olcan Adin, Emre Gural (Paulo Henrique 56)
Ref: Kulbakov (BLR)