If I were to tell you that the scoreline in the headline above was a scoreless game at halftime you’d probably laugh me out of the room, right? Or maybe just tell me I’m absolutely crazy? Maybe all of the above and then some?
And yet …
All of three days after Juventus won a seven-goal thriller in the Derby d’Italia, they took things one or two steps further in their Champions League opener on Tuesday night.
A scoreless game at the half against Borussia Dortmund turned into an absolute whirlwind after
the break. Juventus fell behind on three separate occasions in what proved to be a second half in which all eight goals were scored. Once it was 4-2 in favor of Dortmund, it looked like that would be that and Juventus were headed toward their first loss of the season. Instead, Dusan Vlahovic played the role of super sub, scoring twice and assisting on Lloyd Kelly’s game-tying goal in the 96th minute that allowed Juve to get a point with a 4-4 draw against Dortmund just when it looked like a loss was a mere certainty.
I don’t know how they did it, but they did it.
They actually did come back and get a point after Ramy Bensebaini put Dortmund up by two goals with four minutes to go before second-half stoppage time after a penalty was called on — you guessed it — Kelly and the ball hitting his arm on his attempt to block a shot.
It’s all so hard to believe — both the good (the comeback) and the bad (the defending) of it all.
Hell, we were reminded multiple times about how Juventus hadn’t lost a Champions League opener on home turf before Tuesday night. And they almost did just that. Almost. But, by the skin of their teeth, that unbeaten record remained intact. I don’t know how, but it did.
Maybe we can simply boil it down to this: This is a draw that feels like a win mainly because it was looking so much like a loss before Vlahovic pulled Juve within a goal two minutes before Kelly’s header to tie it all up.
In the grand scheme of it, you probably aren’t wrong to say that Juventus didn’t deserve a point for their overall level of play on Tuesday night. Some of the mistakes they made on the Dortmund goals were pretty bad — and that might be the kind way to say it. Whether it’s allowing Dortmund to go right back ahead after Kenan Yildiz tied it up with his latest stunner, Khephren Thuram turning the ball over in the final third and Dortmund taking full advantage or Michele Di Gregorio having a pretty forgettable night in goal, this was not a good night for a decent number of Juve players.
And yet …
It’s not so much organized chaos that they’ve embraced the last four days, but it sure is nice to see them fight back and get the win over Inter and steal a point away from Dortmund when the German side was likely thinking they had three points in the entering stoppage time. Is the fact that Juve’s allowed seven goals in the last two games anything but totally concerning? Of course not. But time will only prove that if this is a couple of simply stupid occurrences or a worrying trend that is starting to develop.
You hope they’re just outliers. But of course you’re worrying it’s much more than that. I know I am — and for good reason after what we’ve seen the last couple of games regardless of the result.
Despite all of that, this Juventus team is showing it has some spirit to it. They’re showing that they have some fight. They may be allowing many more goals or even long-range shots than anybody around here would like, but they’re fighting back when they’re up against the wall. That’s something we couldn’t say at many points of last season. (Yes, even if the most memorable games of the Thiago Motta era was a comeback against another Bundesliga side when it looked like they were out of it.)
I was ready for the doom. I was ready for the doom. This was looking like it was going to be a very, very grumpy post and surely I wasn’t going to be the only one feeling that way no matter how early in the 2025-26 season it still very much is. And then Juve caught lightning in a bottle for a couple of minutes and completely eliminated a two-goal deficit in stoppage time. It certainly ain’t feeling like it’s anything close to being sustainable, but they’re finding a way to do it right now.
Fino Alla Fine indeed.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- This new third kit from Juventus — prima classe!!
- Me after Juventus’ first two games: The defense is looking good! I love the return of the shutouts!
- Me after Juventus’ last two games: Will these team ever record a shutout again because that’s allow of goals to allow within 180 minutes worth of game time.
- Anybody else feeling tired? Because I’m so tired.
- Union Saint-Gilloise on top of the UCL league phase table after Night 1 of the Champions League being back. Take that, haters!
- A goal in the Derby d’Italia. Now a last-second Champions League goal to tie it up when it looked like Juventus were going to lose. Is Lloyd Kelly suddenly becoming a fan favorite? There’s worse ways to go about all of this!
- I surely was amongst the hundreds of thousands of people screaming at the TV during the VAR check on Kelly’s goal, right? If VAR had taken that away, it would have been so incredibly cruel.
- Is Dusan Vlahovic BACK?!?! IS HE?!?! It’s worth discussing.
- But seriously, though … Vlahovic got a lot of stick from a lot of people over the last few months as it looked like he was essentially staying in Turin to cash that Serie A-high paycheck and that’s that. But for him to start the season this kind of way, to become a huge part of Juventus’ early-season success — off the bench no less! — and to be what feels like extremely professional about it, that’s a sign of hopefully more good things to come.
- Hey, the guy is fighting for his next contract, so it’s a good sign he’s showing us something. We don’t know which jersey he’ll be wearing this time next season, but in the present day Contract Year Vlahovic is rivaling Contract Year Rabiot for some pretty incredible vibes.
- So at this point, considering what he’s done off the bench and what he’s done from the opening whistle, does Vlahovic ask Igor Tudor to be a sub every game? I’m only partially joking here.
- We’re basically 1,100 words into this post so I might as well say it: HOLY CRAP KENAN YILDIZ.
- Like seriously, Yildiz is just absurd. It’s so fun to have him as a Juventus player. And he is only getting better and scoring crazier goals with every passing game. This boy good — really, really good.
- And you know what? If not for a completely insane save from Gregor Kobel, Yildiz could have had two absolute stunners. That’s to go with his stunner from over the weekend. All he does is provide highlight-reel quality goals. Not bad.
- Whatever transfer rumor that will come out of this game linking with Yildiz with a move to the Premier League, just go ahead and add another €100 million onto it. That’s reasonable, right?
- This was not a good return to the lineup for Andrea Cambiaso.
- This was not a good night for Khephren Thuram.
- This was not a good night for Teun Koopmeiners.
- This was not a good night for Michele Di Gregorio.
- This was not a good night for Jonathan David.
- This was not a good night for Gleison Bremer, which sucks since he had the captain’s armband on.
- Manuel Locatelli came on in the 71st minute and ended up being one of Juve’s highest rated players on Sofascore. Seems like maybe that move should have happened a little earlier.
- I was not expecting Edon Zhegrova to play against Dortmund. It was a very brief cameo when Juve were in total desperation mode, but he is going to be so fun to watch when he gets full match fitness.
- Loïs Openda didn’t have a great game in his full Juve debut, but you can definitely see some good things from him that should only improve with time and rapport with his teammates.
- I seriously just can’t stop shaking my head over the fact that Lloyd Kelly has two incredibly important goals in the last two games. This sport is just so silly sometimes.
- I’ll leave you with this: Juventus once played Hamburg in the Champions League back in 2000. The final score ended up being 4-4. One of Juve’s goal scorers? A defender wearing bianconero by the name of Igor Tudor.
- Over the weekend we drank bourbon out of celebration. This might be out of relief. Or maybe I’m just too tired to lift the glass after watching Juventus and Borussia Dortmund score eight goals in a single half. I’ll provide an update over the weekend when Juve play Hellas Verona and hopefully defend more like they did during their first couple of games this season.
