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Juventus returned to European action in spectacular style, as Kenan Yildiz inspired them to a 3-1 win over PSV in the League Phase of the UEFA Champions League at the Allianz Stadium. PSV started with the confidence of a team that had comfortably won all of their opening five matches in the Eredivisie, but were soon blown away by a blistering six-minute spell of domination from the home side.
First, Yildiz continued his walk in the shadow of club greats, as the young Turkish forward drove into the box, dropped his shoulder, and curled a pin-point strike into the top corner to replace Alessandro Del Piero as the club’s youngest UCL scorer. Weston McKennie and Teun Koopmeiners had already missed good opportunities by the time the former doubled his team’s lead just six minutes after Yildiz’s moment of magic.
Joey Veerman thought he had snubbed out the danger when he tackled Dusan Vlahovic in the PSV box, but the Dutchman only managed to divert the ball to McKennie who dispatched the simple chance comfortably beyond Joel Drommel. If PSV were hoping that the Old Lady would tire in the second half, it took only seven minutes for them to have their hopes dashed.
Veerman was dispossessed by Koopmeiners in a dangerous area, with Vlahovic picking up the pieces and squaring to an unmarked Nicolas Gonzalez. With the PSV defence seemingly absent, the Argentine forward could easily slot home to notch a goal on his UCL debut. It was a demoralizing night for PSV, who did grab a late consolation from a smart finish by Ismael Saibari, but Peter Bosz will know that their Champions League fate will likely be decided in home games against more equal opposition.
For Thiago Motta it was an impressive win in his first UCL match, and he will now hope his side can repeat their feat in two weeks’ time when they travel to RB Leipzig.
