Juventus 1-1 Nantes: Blas stuns Italian giants with sublime finish

Juventus 1-1 Nantes: Ludovic Blas stuns Italian giants on the counter attack to cancel out Dusan Vlahovic’s opener, as Max Allegri’s side fail to win first leg of Europa League play-off amid late VAR drama in Turin

  • Dusan Vlahovic gave Juventus the lead after poor defending from the visitors
  • Ludovic Blas scored a sensational goal for Nantes from a blistering counter
  • Chiesa thought he had restored the lead immediately but ball didn’t cross line

Ludovic Blas stunned Juventus with a sensational second-half equaliser to earn Nantes a hard-fought draw in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs.

Blas capped off a blistering Nantes counter attack with a fine finish into the top corner past a helpless Wojciech Szczesny.

The hosts had taken the lead in Turin, after Dusan Vlahovic got on the end of a Federico Chiesa flick on to open the scoring in the first-half. 

However, the Italian giants could not hold on, despite Chiesa striking the underside of the crossbar, and now head to France next week on level terms. 

Juventus thought they had been awarded a late penalty in stoppage time for handball but the referee – who went over to the VAR monitor decided that the Nantes defender had been fouled by Bremer.

More to follow. 

Nantes came from behind to earn a hard-fought draw against Italian giants Juventus in Turin

Poor defending by Nantes allowed Dusan Vlahovic to score from a ball knocked over the top by Federico Chiesa

Ludovic Blas scored a sensational goal to equalise for Nantes from a blistering counter attack

Federico Chiesa thought he had restored Juve’s lead straight away but his effort crashed off the underside of the bar and somehow stayed out

Juventus were convinced they should have been awarded a late penalty but despite the referee looking at the monitor, it was not given

MATCH FACTS 

Juventus XI: Szczesny, De Sciglio, Danilo, Bremer, Alex Sandro,Fagioli, Paredes, Rabiot, Di Maria, Vlahovic, Chiesa. 

Subs: Locatelli, Cuadrado, Gatti, Kostic, Kean, Bonucci, Pinsoglio,Rugani, Soule, Iling-Junior, Crespi.

Goals: Vlahovic 

Nantes XI: Lafont, Coco, Castelletto, Girotto, Pallois, Centonze,Blas, Sissoko, Chirivella, Moutoussamy, Mohamed. 

Subs: Guessand,Descamps, Doucet, Corchia, Mollet, Simon, Petric, Diaz, Traore.

Goals: Blas 

Referee: Joao Pinheiro (Portugal)

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