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Substitutes Pogba and Gatti combined to rescue a draw for Juventus against Sevilla in the Europa League semifinal
Juventus substitutes Paul Pogba and Federico Gatti combined to snatch a draw at the death for the Old Lady in their UEFA Europa League semifinal first-leg tie against Sevilla.
Gatti scored with the last kick of the game in the 97th minute to ensure Juventus could secure a 1-1 draw ahead of their trip to Seville next week.
Moroccan forward Youssef En-Nesyri continued his hot streak in Europe to give Sevilla the lead against Juventus in the first half and would have been forgiven for thinking he would be credited with the winning goal in the tie before he and Sevilla’s hearts were broken by the equaliser deep in injury time.
How it happened
Sevilla were coming off their famous win over Manchester United in the quarterfinal of the Europa League, but the Old Lady were still favourites to secure the victory at Turin’s Allianz Stadium.
Despite starting the first half the better team, Juventus soon found themselves under pressure from the Europa League specialists and conceded the opening goal just before the half-hour mark as En-Nesyri scored his third goal in two Europa League games for Sevilla to give them the lead.
En-Nesyri has been involved in four goals in his last three Europa League matches, as it was also his header that was deflected past David De Gea to see Sevilla secure a late draw at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the quarterfinal.
This time it was Sevilla’s turn to concede late on as Gatti turned in a monster header from Pogba’s corner to steal a 1-1 draw for Juventus at home, which leaves their hopes of reaching the Europa League final a lot more favourable than if they had gone to Seville hoping to claw back a deficit.
Sevilla, on the other hand, will be disappointed in the manner in which they threw away the win after dominating for long spells and creating better chances than their hosts.
They will, however, be confident that they can get the better of Juventus in the second leg of the semifinal when the Old Lady visit Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan next week.
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