Juventus Suffered a Shocking Loss Against Maccabi Haifa
Omer Atzili scored a brace in the first half which was enough for the home side to register a fascinating win over Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus team.
Juventus lost their previous match against rivals AC Milan and were desperate to get back into the ways. They also knew that dropping points in this match will bring them close to getting knocked out from the Group Stage of UCL. Their only win in this tournament came against Haifa Maccabi.
Allegri started with his typical 4-4-2 formation. Danilo, Bonucci, Rugani, and Alex Sandro played in the defense while Szczesny kept his spot under the bar. Landro Paredes and Adrien Rabiot started in the base of the midfield with Cuadradio and McKennie playing in the wings. Angel Di Maria and Dusan Vlahovic played in the two-man forward line.
The Israeli team put pressure on Juventus from the start of the match. They got their reward in the seventh minute when Haifa winger Atizili scored a header from Pierre Cornud’s cross.
Haifa could have taken a two-goal lead within the next five minutes. However, Tjaronn Chery’s freekick agonizingly hit the bar. Soon after that Juventus goalkeeper, Szczesny had to save a long ranger out.
Things got even worse when Argentine attacker Angel Di Maria left the field with a possible hamstring injury just ahead of the half-hour mark. Allegri brought on Milik to replace the winger but nothing changed in terms of Juve’s luck.
Haifa continued their pressure on Juventus and it resulted in the second goal. It was once again Atzili whose brilliant strike in the near post defeated Juventus’s goalkeeper to give the home team a two-goal lead.
The Bianconeri went into the dressing room while trailing 2-0 at the half time. After the break, they finally started to create some chances for themselves. But Maccabi Haifa custodian Josh Cohen had a brilliant game a denied the Juventus forwards every time.
Despite Juventus’ pressure, Maccabi Haifa managed to keep a clean sheet and finished the game with a memorable win over their Italian counterpart.
The win served as the first one for the Israeli team since their victory against Olympiakos in 2002. For the first time ever, Juventus lost three of their first four group-stage matches in the Champions League. With this loss, they are now closer to a group-stage elimination than ever.
The post Juventus Suffered a Shocking Loss Against Maccabi Haifa appeared first on The12thMan.
