In an exciting evening at the Allianz Stadium, Juventus secured a last-gasp 1-1 draw against Sevilla in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final
Max Allegri adopted a 3-5-1-1 formation spearheaded by Dusan Vlahovic, with Angel Di Maria operating in the hole. Fabio Miretti joined Manuel Locatelli and Adrien Rabiot in the middle of the park, while Juan Cuadrado and Filip Kostic took the wing roles.
At the back, Gleison Bremer’s muscular injury gave the opportunity to club captain Leonardo Bonucci to start the match alongside Alex Sandro and Danilo.
The Bianconeri had some chances early in the encounter, but the Andalusians asserted their authority as the match progressed. By the middle of the first half, Sevilla were in command, while the Italian defenses were all over the place.
While Szczesny managed to deny a couple of dangerous shots, the writing was on the wall, and Sevilla eventually broke the deadlock through Youssef En-Nesyri at the 26th minute. The Moroccan wrongfooted the Polish goalkeeper to finish off a swift counter-attack.
After the interval, the Old Lady’s performance improved with the introduction of influential substitutes like Samuel Iling-Junior, Federico Chiesa and Paul Pogba. But little did we know that Federico Gatti was going to cement himself as the ultimate super-sub.
While the referee was preparing to blow his whistle to signal a first-leg defeat at home, Chiesa’s corner kick was redirected by Pogba’s header, and Gatti latched onto the ball as the crowds in attendance breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Juventus will now head to Andalusia next week on level terms and will be hoping to secure their spot in the final on enemy territory as it’s been the case throughout the knockout stages.