Juventus were remarkably unlucky in their 1-1 draw with FC Nantes, as after Dusan Vlahovic’s opener, they rattled the woodwork three times, Ludovic Blas struck on the counter and they were denied a last-gasp penalty with their Europa League progress in the balance.
The second leg of this play-off is on Thursday February 23.
The Bianconeri had a dreadful Champions League campaign and scraped third place, dropping down to the Europa League. Paul Pogba, Kaio Jorge and Mattia Perin were unavailable, but Max Allegri started his three star forwards. Nantes were 13th in Ligue 1 and had to do without injured Quentin Merlin, while forward Ignatius Ganago was on compassionate leave following the tragic death of his daughter.
It barely took a couple of minutes for Angel Di Maria to sting Alban Lafont’s gloves and the magic trio combined for the excellent opening goal. Di Maria floated a ball over the top, Federico Chiesa nodded it down for Dusan Vlahovic to turn in from six yards.
Jean-Charles Castelletto risked an own goal when trying to acrobatically prevent Vlahovic turning in a cross, while Moussa Sissoko won the ball back from Nicolò Fagioli and nodded wide combining with Ludovic Blas.
Juventus really should’ve scored when Di Maria hesitated in the box, but instead this sparked a rapid counter-attack from Mohamed, who timed the pass perfectly for Blas to equalise as Wojciech Szczesny came flying out.
Chiesa simply couldn’t believe he hadn’t scored moments later when he gathered from Vlahovic at a tricky angle and his ferocious strike cannoned off the underside of the bar, hit the line, bounced off the inside of the far post and back out again. Goal-line technology showed most of the ball was over the line, but not all of it.
Juve rattled the woodwork again, as Di Maria’s in-swinging corner surprised Lafont and thumped the crossbar.
Samuel Moutoussamy blasted just wide from distance and Manuel Locatelli should’ve gone for goal rather than tried to assist Juan Cuadrado, but Castelletto made a stunning last-ditch tackle to stop Adrien Rabiot going clear.
In stoppages, Danilo volleyed just over from a smart Chiesa dink over the top.
However, the major controversy was deep into injury time when Bremer’s header on a Cuadrado cross at the back post was pushed away from goal by the hand of Fabien Centonze. The referee was called to a VAR on-field review, but rather than award the penalty, he gave a free kick against Juve for a supposed Bremer push.
Juventus 1-1 Nantes
Vlahovic 13 (J), Blas 60 (N)
Player statistic
| Dusan Vlahovic (Assist: Federico Chiesa) |
 |
13' | ||
| 45+1' |  |
Jean-Charles Castelletto |
| Federico Chiesa | |
54' | ||
| 57' | |
Mostafa Mohamed | ||
| 60' | |
Ludovic Blas (Assist: Mostafa Mohamed) | ||
| Danilo | |
75' | ||
| 90' | |
Sébastien Corchia |
Match statistic
