Champions League: Higuain strikes late to rescue Allegri's men

Gonzalo Higuain's late strike rescued a draw for Juventus against Sporting CP in Champions League Group D

Published : Nov 01, 2017 03:58 IST

Juventus squandered a chance to reach the last-16 of the Champions League but Gonzalo Higuain struck late to salvage a valuable 1-1 draw against Sporting CP.
Juventus squandered a chance to reach the last-16 of the Champions League but Gonzalo Higuain struck late to salvage a valuable 1-1 draw against Sporting CP.
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Juventus squandered a chance to reach the last-16 of the Champions League but Gonzalo Higuain struck late to salvage a valuable 1-1 draw against Sporting CP.

Juventus squandered a chance to reach the last-16 of the Champions League but Gonzalo Higuain struck late to salvage a valuable 1-1 draw against Sporting CP.

MATCH CENTRE

Bruno Cesar's first-half goal gave the Portuguese side control of Tuesday's game and it proceeded to dominate play on a night when victory for Juventus would have seen them clinch qualification for the knockout stage.

Higuain left it until the 79th minute to level the match and put the Italian champions back on course for second place in Group D, but they will need another victory from its last two games to make sure of qualification, as Sporting remains three points behind.

While the result will have disappointed Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri, he may have been more troubled by his side's performance, which lacked the fluency and confidence of its 2-0 win over AC Milan in Serie A three days earlier. Sporting should have extended its lead in the second half, missing a number of clear chances as Juve's defence struggled to contain the dynamic Gelson Martins and industrious Marcos Acuna.

The seriousness of the situation only seemed to dawn on Juventus late on and Higuain converted one of very few chances to have come his way.

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