A good start in the Europa League for coach Spalletti and Juventus, who easily defeated the Dutch team at the Allianz Stadium. The Bianconeri needed practically one game to overcome the obstacle – not very difficult – represented by NEC Nijmegen.
After just 9 minutes, Nico Gonzalez puts his team ahead, after a direct assist from Grabara: on the Polish goalkeeper's throw-in, the Dutch goalkeeper comes out clumsily and fails to hit the ball, so it is child's play for the Argentine to send the ball into the empty net. The friends try to react, but Lebreton's shot is a little dangerous. In the 24th minute, Juventus doubles the advantage and does so with Kerim Alajbegovic's first goal since his transfer to Turin: McKennie serves it on the edge of the area and the Bosnian finishes the action with a beautiful right-footed shot, diagonally. NEC's defense falters again and about ten minutes later it causes a penalty, after Kabar fouls Nico Gonzalez. From the penalty spot, Woltemade makes no mistake.
In the second half, coach Spalletti's team thinks more about slowing down and managing the advantage, while the Dutch try to become dangerous with a shot from outside the area by Geiger, which ends up outside the box. The pace of this second half is much slower and Spalletti can afford to make some substitutions, in order to rest some of the starters and give space to the players who started the game from the bench. In the 71st minute, Kolo Muani also enters, who four minutes later provides Celik with the assist for the final goal of 4-0.
The French striker also finds personal satisfaction in the 82nd minute: Lucumì launches the long ball, Polster again goes the wrong way and the former PSG player, with an empty net, cannot make a mistake. A good start for Juventus, who manage to defeat a very modest NEC and take the first three points in the Europa League. The next match will be in Vigo, against Celta, on Thursday, October 15.
Europa League - League Stage
Levski Sofia 0-1 FC Salzburg
OFI Crete 2-0 Hoffenheim
Besiktas 4-1 Marseille
Celtic 1-3 Ferencvaros
Crystal Palace 4-0 Lech Poznan
Juventus 5-0 NEC Nijmegen
Lillestrom 1-2 Torreense
Real Sociedad 1-2 Bournemouth
Victoria Plzen 0-3 Union St.Gilloise
