Juventus incredibly fought back from 2-1 down with 10 men in Germany to secure a stunning 3-2 Champions League victory over RB Leipzig with Dusan Vlahovic’s brace and a Francisco Conceicao solo effort.
The Bianconeri conceded only one goal this season, in the 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven, and made this trip without injured Tim Weah and Arkadiusz Milik. Leipzig lost the opener 2-1 to Atletico Madrid in stoppages, having taken the lead through Benjamin Sesko, but Kevin Kampl, Assan Ouedraogo and Xaver Schlager were out of action.
The Germans had a big chance after four minutes when Lois Openda shrugged off Gleison Bremer to roll across for a panicked Pierre Kalulu clearance, but the Brazilian turned his ankle and knee during the incident and had to be replaced by Federico Gatti.
Incredibly, he was followed moments later by Nico Gonzalez with a thigh issue, replaced by Francisco Conceicao, so Juve had lost two players and used up two substitution slots within 12 minutes.
RB Leipzig took the lead with a sensational goal, as Openda’s absolutely inspired ball over the top found Sesko to control with the right foot, let it bounce and volley in with the left off the underside of the crossbar, giving Michele Di Gregorio no chance. It was only the second goal Juve had conceded all season.
Juve had a strong penalty appeal on 38 minutes when Vlahovic appeared to be caught late by Castello Lukeba on the Weston McKennie assist, but VAR reviewed the incident and decided not to take any further action.
Nicolò Fagioli saw his daisy-cutter skim the near post and a McKennie strike charged down by Nicolas Seiwald.
Juve came out fighting for the restart, as first Teun Koopmeiners thumped the far post on a McKennie assist when he really should’ve done better.
Moments later, Andrea Cambiaso’s cross from the left saw Vlahovic sneak in front of his marker to sweep in at the near post.
Leipzig also threatened to restore their lead when Openda’s solo effort smacked against the upright, though moments later Openda was going clear on goal when Di Gregorio came sprinting outside the box and his glove just grazed the ball. Following a VAR review, the goalkeeper was shown a red card for stopping the clear scoring opportunity.
It got even worse for Juventus on the resulting free kick, which Douglas Luiz charged down with his arm while trying to protect his face from Xavi Simons. It was the ex-Aston Villa midfielder’s first touch of the game, the referee awarded a penalty following the VAR review and Sesko converted the spot-kick.
Nonetheless, 10-man Juventus equalised moments later with a remarkable solo strike from Vlahovic, who bent the vicious finish into the top corner from distance.
It was wide open as Openda again hit the base of the upright and Pierre Kalulu’s sliding block prevented Nusa scoring on the Simons assist.
Instead, Juventus turned it around to lead 3-2 when Francisco Conceicao dribbled past David Raum and bent the finish into the far bottom corner from the tightest of angles.
Leipzig poured forward, but Sesko got no power behind his finish from 10 yards, that was straight at Mattia Perin, then Cambiaso got in the way of an effort from ex-Milan striker Andre Silva. Juventus held on through 10 minutes of added time for an extraordinary victory and have six points from two Champions League games.
