MANCHESTER, England — Juventus cast aside its domestic woes by coming from behind to beat Manchester City 2-1 in their opening UEFA Champions League game Tuesday, with Alvaro Morata scoring an 81st-minute winner for last season’s runner-up.
Winless in the opening three games of its title defense in Italy, Juve went behind in its European debut in Group D when defender Giorgio Chiellini — under pressure from Vincent Kompany at a corner — headed into his own net in the 57th minute.
The Italians began the fightback in the 70th when Mario Mandzukic glanced home a whipped cross from Paul Pogba. Morata curled in the winner from outside the penalty area after a long ball forward was deflected into his path.
Juventus lost 3-1 to Barcelona in the 2015 final in June and lost three key players over the summer — Carlos Tevez, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo — in an overhaul. That perhaps explained its poor start to the Serie A season, which has seen the champions lose two games and draw the other.
And with Italy midfielder Claudio Marchisio also missing at Etihad Stadium because of injury, Juve was widely tipped to struggle against a team that had begun the Premier League in rampant fashion.
However, City — the early English leader with five wins from five games — couldn’t transfer its domestic form to the Champions League. That’s nothing new for the Blues, who haven’t progressed past the last 16 in four seasons on Europe’s biggest stage.
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Thumbnail photo via Twitter/ESPNUK
