Champions League | Juventus 1-1 Sporting: Vlahovic not enough for first victory

Dusan Vlahovic cancelled out the early Maximiliano Araujo goal, but it was not enough for Juventus to get their first Champions League victory after Luciano Spalletti’s arrival.

The Bianconeri only sacked Igor Tudor eight days ago, with caretaker manager Massimo Brambilla overseeing the 3-1 win over Udinese, then Spalletti making his debut in Saturday’s 2-1 victory away to Cremonese. Lloyd Kelly, Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal missed out, but Kenan Yildiz returned from a knee injury and Teun Koopmeiners was confirmed in his new defensive role. Sporting had wins over Kairat Almaty and Olympique Marseille, but lost 2-1 away to Napoli. Nuno Santos, Daniel Bragança and Ivan Fresneda were out of action.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

The pressure was already on Juve, who were still without a single win in the Champions League after high-scoring draws with Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal, then a 1-0 loss to Real Madrid.

Dusan Vlahovic’s scuffed volley was smothered at the back post on a Weston McKennie cross from the right, but it was Sporting who took the lead in Turin.

It was a well-worked move from right to left, Francisco Trincao laying it off for Maximiliano Araujo’s angled drive, which bounced in off the inside of the far post.

Sporting take the lead in Turin!

Maximiliano Araújo puts the Portuguese club ahead.

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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 4, 2025

They nearly doubled the advantage moments later, as Francisco Trincao’s strike was deflected off Koopmeiners to smack against the crossbar, having wrong-footed Michele Di Gregorio.

Juventus also threatened, as Rui Silva made an extraordinary reaction save one-handed to deny the Vlahovic diving header from close range on Pierre Kalulu’s cross, then got down to fingertip the Serbian’s daisy-cutter round the far post.

Manuel Locatelli scuffed a finish wide from a promising position, and the Bianconeri equalised when Khephren Thuram surged down the left to roll across for Vlahovic, sliding in at the near post from seven yards.

Dušan Vlahović levels for Juventus!

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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 4, 2025

Kenan Yildiz pulled back from the by-line for Francisco Conceicao to score in an identical position to the goal, but this time a crucial Goncalo Inacio deflection turned it wide of the near stick.

Straight after the restart, Araujo made a decisive interception to stop Conceicao tapping in a Yildiz pass at the far post, while Cambiaso’s volley from the edge of the area was charged down and Thuram twice fired over from a similar position.

Fabio Miretti came on for his season debut, but Geny Catamo drilled wide after Koopmeiners was nutmegged, while Filip Kostic smashed into the arms of Rui Silva from distance.

Jonathan David had a huge opportunity to win it in stoppages, but his header on Pierre Kalulu’s ball over the top was acrobatically fingertipped out from under the bar by Rui Silva.

Kostic also saw his volley deflected over by Morita with practically the last kick of the game, as the Old Lady was held to another disappointing European draw.

Araujo 12 (S), Vlahovic 34 (J)