Juventus take narrow 1-0 lead into second tie against Sporting

Juventus salvaged a 1-0 win over Sporting Lisbon in their first tie of the 1/4 final of Europa League on Thursday night.

Federico Gati turned out to be the unexpected hero for the Old Lady as he gave the home team late in the 73rd minute.

The Italian team had ton of issues with injuries as Alex Sandro and Mattia de Sciglio were absent, while Paul Pogba and Dusan Vlahovic were only fit enough for the bench.

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had two great saves to keep the match at 0-0.

After the interval the game was more even as the Sporting high-pressing from the first half seemed to have been halted.

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Chiesa stroke the ball across the face of goal from the left and nobody got on the end of it, but later on Dusan Vlahovic’s attempt was cleared off the line by Coates and Gatti managed to push it over the line.

Sporting had a great chance to make it 1-1 in stoppage time, but unfortunately for them an acrobatic interception from Pogba and astonishing double save from reserve goalkeeper Perin kept the home team’s advantage.

Perin. Wow. pic.twitter.com/xycppDUUgn

— Juventus News Live (@juvenewslive) April 13, 2023