Juve-Seville 1-1: goals from En-Nesyri and Gatti in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final

by our correspondent Marco Guidi

May 11th
– Turin

Gatti’s last gasp saves Juve. With Sevilla at the Stadium, in the first act of the Europa League semi-final, it finished 1-1 with the defender’s goal in the seventh minute of added time and the Bianconeri are also fine, given how things had turned out and the difficulties in creating chances to goal. All postponed, therefore, to the return to Spain in a week.

BETTER GUESTS

—

Formations confirmed, with Allegri choosing the 3-5-1-1 (Bonucci – 500 appearances for Juve – in central defense in place of the injured Bremer, Di Maria behind Vlahovic), Sevilla with the 4-2- 3-1. Juve started aggressively, with Kostic putting Navas in trouble on the left in the transitions: in the 12th minute the Serbian widened the diagonal too much after a nice descent. Sevilla’s response comes 5′ later with a header from former Genoa and Milan Ocampos, on which Szczesny is reactive in repelling. Juventus’ best chance came in the 19th minute with Vlahovic (suspiciously offside) who was unable to frame the goal at the invitation of Kostic a few steps away from Bounou. Juve in the first half, however, ended here. While the Spaniards rise in tone, led by the superb direction of the evergreen Rakitic. In the 26th minute the unleashed Ocampos, who had previously missed a great chance, flies to the right and draws a perfect pass for En-Nesyri. The Moroccan centre-forward catches Szczesny in counter-time with the pot and unlocks the match. And for the next 20′, there’s only Sevilla. First Ocampos (who gets hurt and is replaced by Montiel) gets replaced by Bonucci just at the moment of the face to face shot with the goalkeeper (bad mistake by Miretti), then Rakitic in the 39th minute forces Szczesny to make a complicated detour for a corner. The first half ended with 11 to 3 for Sevilla, 5 to 0 on target.

RECOVERY

—

Allegri immediately runs for cover, switching to a 4-2-3-1 with the additions of Iling for Kostic and Chiesa for Miretti. The move has its effect, because Juve regains verve, while now the Andalusians are struggling to maintain control of the match. Of real opportunities, however, few. An incursion by Iling, a missed hook in the area by Chiesa on one of Di Maria’s rare ideas, another shot by Iling that Bounou blocks in good style. Milik enters for a very angry Vlahovic and Gatti for the injured Bonucci. Then 20′ from the end also Pogba for Di Maria. But Juve, despite their good will, are unable to appear dangerously near Bounou. Until the 97th minute, when from a corner Pogba acts as a tower and Gatti under measure evens the score. Second shot on black and white goal… The feeling is that Seville will need something more to earn the final in Budapest.