juve denied at the death by galatasaray published: wednesday 2 october 2013, 22.58cet
juventus 2-2 galatasaray aş
roberto mancini's first game in charge of the visitors ended in a group b draw thanks to umut bulut's 88th-minute equaliser in northern italy.
by paolo menicucci from juventus stadium
roberto mancini marked his first game as galatasaray aş coach with a 2-2 draw at juventus in a vibrant uefa champions league group b encounter.
after losing 6-1 at home to real madrid cf in their opening fixture, the turkish champions limited the juventus attack in the first half and punished a defensive mistake through didier drogba's goal. the bianconeri continued to toil to find spaces but a penalty by arturo vidal and a fabio quagliarella header seemed to have earned victory – until substitute umut bulut's late strike saved the visitors.
juventus struggled against galatasaray's pressing in midfield early on and were often forced to use long balls to reach their attackers, who were themselves having a hard time against an organised defence. in that context, it was the istanbul outfit who had the first dangerous attempt of the night after 19 minutes when gianluigi buffon blocked drogba's left-foot shot from a tight angle.
both coaches were forced into early changes, mancini replacing semih kaya with gökhan zan, and antonio conte fielding quagliarella for the injured mirko vučinić. things turned from bad to worse for the italian title holders nine minutes from the interval when leonardo bonucci's misplaced pass allowed drogba to steal in ahead of the onrushing buffon on the edge of the box and stroke the ball coolly into an empty net.
carlos tévez tried to respond quickly but his powerful right-foot effort from distance flashed just wide of fernando muslera's left post. at the other end wesley sneijder volleyed over from a delightful chipped pass by drogba. juventus started the second half with a different spirit but vidal and kwadwo asamoah missed the target with shots from menacing positions.
as galatasaray continued to defend well, long-range attempts were juve's main weapon with vidal trying twice more with no luck. conte sought to reinvigorate his forward line, taking off centre-back leonardi bonucci for fernando llorente – and the striker immediately went close, heading over asamoah's centre from the left.
the turin side eventually equalised 12 minutes from time when nordin amrabat fouled quagliarella in the box and vidal sent muslera the wrong way from the spot. the comeback appeared to be complete as quagliarella nodded in a cross by andrea pirlo in the 87th minute. however, galatasaray made sure they had the last word 60 seconds later: drogba heading down a long ball into the path of substitute bulut who restored parity.
