pogba caps juventus recovery against olympiacos published: tuesday 4 november 2014, 22.57cet juventus 3-2 olympiacos fc trailing 2-1, juventus scored twice in two minutes midway through the second half, paul pogba drilling in the winner.
• andrea pirlo curls in a free-kick on his 100th uefa champions league appearance • olympiacos centre-back alberto botía nods in the equaliser • after delvin n'dinga puts the visitors ahead, juventus score twice in two minutes • paul pogba's winner means the sides are level on six points in group a • next games: malmö v juventus, atlético v olympiacos (26 november)
juventus scored twice in as many minutes after the hour mark as they recovered from 2-1 down to defeat olympiacos fc in uefa champions league group a.
after consecutive european losses, to club atlético de madrid and the greek side, juventus started in determined mood, forcing their opponents to defend deep. the serie a leaders, however, had to wait until 16 minutes had elapsed before seriously testing roberto, claudio marchisio obliging with a powerful shot from distance that the goalkeeper tipped over the crossbar.
five minutes later paul pogba embarked on a run that was halted by alberto botía a few metres outside the penalty area – prime andrea pirlo territory. having scored a free-kick on saturday against empoli fc, pirlo repeated the feat with a brilliant curling effort over the wall. not a bad way for the midfielder to mark his 100th appearance in europe's top club competition.
juventus's advantage lasted only three minutes, though, as botía headed in alejandro domínguez's right-wing corner. the old lady reacted and could have swiftly retaken the lead, but leonardo bonucci nodded over from a good position. álvaro morata then fired wide with just roberto to beat following a pass by carlos tévez.
marchisio failed to hit the target with a volley from close range and pogba placed a low attempt wide from the edge of the box as massimiliano allegri's men continued to press.
the home team had another opportunity to score ten minutes after the interval when a dribble by tévez prised open the visiting defence. the argentinian international passed to the unmarked arturo vidal on the right, but the midfielder hesitated, enabling roberto to smother.
olympiacos punished juventus's profligacy on 61 minutes, delvin n'dinga heading in giannis maniatis's hooked return cross after a free-kick had been partially cleared. juventus's response was swift and devastating. first, substitute fernando llorente's header hit the upright, the ball then striking the unfortunate roberto and rebounding into the net.
the ıtalian outfit regained the initiative moments later through pogba, who celebrated a century of games for juventus in all competitions with a powerful right-foot drive from the edge of the area after his first effort had been blocked. roberto denied the bianconeri a fourth in added time, superbly palming vidal's spot kick against the crossbar, following luka milivojević's foul on tévez.
