Sports
Juventus leave it late while Mourinho’s Benfica get first win
Juventus left it late to pick up their first victory of this year’s Champions league as Jonathan David scored a stoppage time winner to down Bodo/Glimt 3-2 in Norway.
At Bodo’s Aspmyra Stadion, located just above the Arctic Circle, the Old Lady appeared to still be thawing when Ole Blomberg stole in to gave the hosts a first-half lead on 27 minutes.
Lois Openda fired the Serie A side level shortly after the restart before they had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR.
Weston McKennie then headed Luciano Spalletti’s men in front on the hour mark, only for Sondre Fet to convert an 87th-minute penalty to seemingly rescue a point.
David, however, was to have the last laugh, netting in the 91st minute after Kenan Yildiz’s shot had been parried.
Despite their slow start in this season’s competition, the result moves Juventus to within three points of the top eight – the places that qualify automatically for the knockouts.
Winless Bodo/Glimt, meanwhile, sit 31st in the 36-team league on two points.
Another European giant to pick up their first win of the Champions League campaign was Jose Mourinho’s Benfica, who inflicted further misery on bottom club Ajax with a 2-0 victory at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Samuel Dahl opened the scoring after six minutes with a thunderous left-footed strike from just inside the box.
The hosts squandered several good chances before the points were sealed in the 90th minute when Leandro Barreiro latched onto a through ball to arrow an effort into the roof of the net.
For Mourinho and co. it will have felt like a big relief after four successive defeats in the competition.
For Ajax, it was another miserable evening in Europe’s elite tournament. The Dutch club have now lost every one of their opening five matches and are the only side yet to pick up a point.
It was a mixed evening for the English teams, with Chelsea cruising to an impressive win over Barcelona. However, there were defeats for both Manchester City, who were much-changed against Bayer Leverkusen, and Newcastle, who took an early lead away at Marseille but fell to defeat courtesy of former Premier League striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund ran out convincing 4-0 winners over 10-man Villarreal. All four goals came in the second half at Signal Iduna Park, with Serhou Guirassy bagging a brace before Karim Adeyemi and Daniel Svensson adding further sheen to the scoreline.
At 1-0 down, the visitors’ task was made all the more challenging when Juan Foyth was sent off as the LaLiga high-flyers dropped to third from bottom in the table.
There was also a red card in the clash between Galatasaray and Union Saint-Gilloise, which saw the latter emerge 1-0 winners.
Promise Akinpelu gave the visitors the lead at the notoriously hostile Rams Park, and it proved to the difference as Arda Unyay was dismissed late on for the hosts.
In the other game, Napoli overcame Azerbaijan Premier League leaders Qarabag, with a Scott McTominay strike and a Marko Jankovic own goal giving the Italian champions a 2-0 victory.
See HERE how the Champions League table now after this evening’s results.
