Juventus revived their hopes of progressing to the Champions League by defeating Benfica 2-0 on the Allianz Stadium, inflicting big injury on their opponents within the course of.
Luciano Spalletti’s facet began the day in seventeenth place, however targets from Kefren Thuram and Weston McKennie moved them as much as fifteenth, with groups ninth to twenty fourth advancing to the knock-off play-offs.
In the meantime, Juve are only one level away from the highest eight and automated qualification, whereas Benfica, who missed a late penalty by Vangelis Pavlidis, are at the moment twenty ninth within the desk, two factors from the cut-off level with one sport remaining.
Superb saves from Anatoly Trubin and Michele Di Gregorio to disclaim Kenan Yildiz and Heorghi Sudakov respectively have been the spotlight of a subdued first half for Torino.
Ten minutes into the second half, the hosts discovered a significant breakthrough when Thuram dribbled into the field and calmly slotted dwelling from 15 yards into the underside left nook.
The second objective got here 9 minutes later from fellow midfielder McKennie. McKennie exchanged a superb cross with Jonathan David contained in the penalty space and made no mistake, slotting previous Trubin and scoring the objective.
Frederik Orsnes hit the submit from a nook kick, however simply earlier than Grayson Bremer was penalized for a foul on Leandro Barreiro within the field, Pavlidis slipped the ensuing spot-kick and despatched it large.
FT | | 1 clear sheet, 2 targets, 3 factors! #JuveSLB #UCL pic.twitter.com/hua9QAdyi2
— Juventus FC (@juventusfcen) January 21, 2026
Information report: McKennie continues objective streak as Juventus win once more in Europe
Juventus’ Champions League hopes appeared bleak after failing to win the primary 4 video games of the league part, however they’ve since gained three in a row, their finest consequence since November 2021.
Thuram’s objective was his first within the Champions League in his seventeenth look, whereas McKennie’s objective made him the primary Juve participant to attain in three consecutive video games within the competitors since Federico Chiesa over 5 years in the past.
Benfica’s missed penalty was their first objective within the Champions League since November 2012, and though that they had scored from 14 consecutive targets final outing, they completed the sport with a barely higher anticipated targets (xG) worth than their opponents (1.36 vs. 1.38), however there was nothing to indicate for it.
