Randal Kolo Muani struck in added time to complete a comeback as Juventus beat Celta Vigo 2-1 at Estadio Balaidos in Vigo, keeping their perfect Europa League record intact.
Juventus arrived at the match top of the Europa League table after a 5-0 win over NEC. Their domestic form had wobbled, however, with a 1-1 draw at Cagliari in Serie A. Their injury problems also continued, with Kenan Yildiz, Jeremie Boga, Khephren Thuram, Manuel Locatelli, Jeff Ekhator, Kamil Grabara and Arek Milik all unavailable. Celta Vigo had lost their opener to Omonia Nicosia and were missing Borja Iglesias, Pablo Duran, Jones El-Abdellaoui, Carl Starfelt and Miguel Roman.
The sides last met in March 2000, when Celta Vigo won 4-0 at home in the UEFA Cup Round of 16 to overturn a 1-0 first-leg defeat. Antonio Conte and Paolo Montero were both sent off in the first half of that match.
Celta take the lead
Celta opened the scoring in the 18th minute. An early header from Willot Swedberg was straight at Guglielmo Vicario, but the hosts soon combined well. The move passed from right to left before Swedberg laid the ball off for Hugo Alvarez, who tapped in at the back post.
Juventus struggled to create clear chances in the first half. Teun Koopmeiners headed straight at the goalkeeper, and Pierre Kalulu failed to control a pull-back from 10 yards. Nick Woltemade blasted over after letting a long ball bounce in the box. Celta almost doubled their advantage on the counter-attack, with Rueda only hitting the side-netting from a Jutgla slide-rule pass before Kalulu got back to block Jutgla.
Woltemade levels the score
Juventus drew level in the 58th minute. Koopmeiners whipped in a cross from the left, and Marcos Alonso clumsily chested the ball down, which set up Nick Woltemade to sweep in from 12 yards. Shortly after the restart, Woltemade had seen an earlier effort charged down at the near post, and Radu had pushed a Francisco Conceicao strike over the bar.
Celta continued to press. Nico Gonzalez twisted and turned in the box to commit defenders, but his left-foot effort bent inches wide. Pape Malang Sarr also failed to capitalise on a poor Alonso clearance.
Kolo Muani completes the turnaround
Juventus found a winner in the first minute of stoppage time. Andrea Cambiaso swung in a cross from the left, and Randal Kolo Muani rose between defenders to nod home at the back post from point-blank range in the 91st minute.
Woltemade was pleased with his performance after the game. He said: ‘My best game for Juventus, I enjoy playing with Kolo Muani.’ Kolo Muani echoed that view, stating: ‘Juventus better when Woltemade is on, gives me more freedom.’
Goalscorers: Hugo Alvarez 18′ (Celta Vigo), Nick Woltemade 58′ (Juventus), Randal Kolo Muani 91′ (Juventus)