UCL | Juventus 2-0 Pafos: Precious Bianconeri victory after poor start

Weston McKennie and Jonathan David got the goals to give Juventus a precious Champions League victory over Pafos, after surviving a poor first half.

The Bianconeri’s confidence was low after Sunday’s 2-1 Serie A defeat to Napoli, so Luciano Spalletti introduced Jonathan David and Edon Zhegrova received his first start since December 2024 for Lille. Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti and Carlo Pinsoglio were still out, but Gleison Bremer and Daniele Rugani returned for a spot on the bench. Ken Sema didn’t make the trip, but Joao Correia returned after a two-match ban for his remarkable red card just four minutes into the draw with Kairat Almaty. Cypriots Pafos were one of the Champions League surprises this season, as both they and Juve were on six points.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Pafos had two big chances in the opening minutes, as first a Joao Correia pull-back from the left found Anderson Silva’s back-heel flick just wide of the near post.

Moments later, they got down the right to roll across, Lloyd Kelly’s clearance hit Andrea Cambiaso and risked an own goal, testing Michele Di Gregorio on the ricochet.

Kenan Yildiz responded with a curler off the inside of the right foot that was beaten away, but Teun Koopmeiners should’ve opened the scoring with a free header into the ground off target on a corner from six yards.

They threatened again from a corner, but Cambiaso and Koopmeiners both went for it at the back post and collided with each other.

Pafos had a huge double chance on 32 minutes when Anderson Silva swept his finish onto the base of the upright, then the move continued and another effort was deflected over. On the resulting corner, Dragomir was allowed a fantastic volley from the edge of the area, forcing Di Gregorio to fingertip it over the bar.

Weston McKennie’s strike was deflected off Goldar, but Jonathan David missed another sitter from a corner, prodding wide from six yards on the knock-down.

Zhegrova failed to make an impact and was replaced at half-time by Francisco Conceicao. Koopmeiners immediately forced a save with a low drive from the edge of the area, Kenan Yildiz blasting the rebound over.

Lloyd Kelly was the latest to waste a free header on a corner, turning wide of the far post, then Conceicao forced a save at the near post after a smart Kenan Yildiz turn to get away in midfield.

Lois Openda also came on and the three forwards combined beautifully to create a chance that the substitute eventually saw charged down for a corner.

On that set play, Juventus finally took the lead with another well-worked move. Andrea Cambiaso’s slide-rule pass found McKennie, who gathered with his back to goal, turned a defender and smashed the finish into the roof of the net from a tricky angle with his right foot.

The Bianconeri doubled their lead when Conceicao broke away in midfield and sent Kenan Yildiz down the left, he rolled across and David took a touch before sweeping past the on-rushing goalkeeper at the back post.

McKennie 67 (J), David 73 (J)