Mueez Ajao
– Dusan Vlahovic converted a penalty, which also saw Freiburg go down to 10 men before half-time, and Federico Chiesa scored in stoppages as Juventus book their spot in the Europa League quarter-finals.
– The Bianconeri won the first leg 1-0 with an Angel Di Maria goal, but he was only fit for the bench along with Federico Chiesa, while Leonardo Bonucci, Paul Pogba, Arkadiusz Milik and Alex Sandro were injured. The hosts missed Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, but Michael Gregoritsch was able to start after only being a substitute in Turin due to illness and surprisingly Italy international Vincenzo Grifo was dropped.
– Ritsu Doan also returned to the XI and had a big chance early on the counter-attack, scuffing wide when Wojciech Szczesny was well off his line.
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– Manuel Locatelli blasted straight at the goalkeeper, but Szczesny had to work hard to palm a towering Matthias Ginter header off the line from a corner.
– Dusan Vlahovic thought he had opened the scoring on 27 minutes when a free kick found Gleison Bremer’s header, it was palmed onto the crossbar and Moise Kean knocked it down for the Serbian to fire in from five yards. However, it was disallowed by VAR for offside on Kean’s touch.
– Kean’s angled drive was parried by Mark Flekken’s legs, then as the move continued Federico Gatti saw his shot cleared off the line by Ginter. However, VAR showed that Gatti’s effort was first charged down by Manuel Gulde’s raised arm and he was already booked, so this became a penalty and second yellow card. Vlahovic stepped up and managed to squirm the spot-kick in, despite Flekken getting a leg to it.
– Gregoritsch hit a free kick that swung not far wide of the far top corner, while Szczesny made a tough save on Lucas Holer after a scramble on a free kick.
– It was difficult to tell that Juve had an extra man in the second half, as the hosts continued to push for at least an equaliser on the night, infuriating Max Allegri.
– This changed when Chiesa came off the bench, as first his solo effort was pushed onto the crossbar by the goalkeeper, then he scored moments later on Adrien Rabiot’s assist by sweeping in from 12 yards.
