MTNFootball

Shakhtar Donetsk continued their impressive run of form when they managed to hold Juventus 1-1 at the Juventus Stadium to stall the Italian’s return to the competition.

Juventus were marking their European debut in the new stadium and they nearly fell a goal behind, inside the sixth minute, when Henrik Mkhitaryan broke free of the defence and nearly sliced one under Gianluigi Buffon at the near post.

Claudio Marchisio went just as close to breaking the deadlock when he pounced on a ball inside the box but his volley towards the near post just flung over the cross bar, 17 minutes into the match.

The Bianconeri were far from the squad which fought so well against Chelsea as they continued to be outplayed by the Ukranians and it showed in the scorelines when Alex Teixeira gave his side the lead.

The Brazilian controlled a short pass from Willian, which saw him take out three defenders in the box and before firing a powerful shot in the 23rd minute.

The goal proved to be the wake-up call the hosts needed as Leonardo Bonucci managed to blast home an unstoppable ball into the back of Shakhtar’s net, three minutes later.

Juventus came out determined after the break when Giorgio Chiellini took a shot from distance but it went wide, before Shakhtar nearly added a second goal when Willian pounced on a counter-attack and sliced his effort just inches wide of the far post.

Fabio Quagliarella came on against Chelsea and scored the equalizer and he was hoping to do the same when he replaced Alessandro Matri in the 64th minute.

Giorgio Chiellini was shown yellow for a challenge and from that free-kick it forced Buffon to make a diving save to palm away a low effort.

Neither side could find a late winner with Shakhtar coming the closest with their effort which hit the crossbar in stoppage time.