NANJING, China: Matthijs de Ligt scored an own goal on his first start before veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon rescued Juventus in a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win over Inter Milan on Wednesday.
It may only have been a friendly between the Italian arch rivals, but tempers threatened to boil over at times, especially in a feisty second half in stifling Nanjing.
The game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Cristiano Ronaldo drawing Juventus level with a deflected second-half free-kick following De Ligt’s own goal on 10 minutes.
Then the 41-year-old Buffon — more than twice De Ligt’s age — sprang to the fore in the shootout, making a triumphant return to the Serie A champions after a year with Paris Saint-Germain.
Dutch teenager De Ligt, who joined Juventus last week from Ajax for a reported 75 million euros ($85 million), came on as a substitute during Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in Singapore.
New Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri named the 19-year-old to start in the “Derby d’Italia”, but the central defender got off to the worst possible beginning, directing the ball past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with his knee to give Inter the lead.
De Ligt, who was one of the most coveted players in world football before sealing his big-money move, was largely untroubled for the rest of the half before being substituted at the break. — AFP
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