Juventus completed a remarkable comeback to beat Celta Vigo 2-1 at the Estadio Balaidos, with Nick Woltemade and Randal Kolo Muani on target, and kept their perfect Europa League record intact.
The Bianconeri arrived at the top of the Europa League table after a 5-0 hammering of NEC, but their Serie A form has been disappointing, including a 1-1 draw at Cagliari. Their injury crisis also continued, with Kenan Yildiz, Jeremie Boga, Khephren Thuram, Manuel Locatelli, Jeff Ekhator, Kamil Grabara and Arek Milik all out of action. Celta Vigo lost their opener to Omonia Nicosia and were missing Borja Iglesias, Pablo Duran, Jones El-Abdellaoui, Carl Starfelt and Miguel Roman.
The last meeting between the two sides was an extraordinary affair. In March 2000, in the UEFA Cup Round of 16, Celta Vigo won 4-0 at home to overturn a 1-0 first-leg defeat, with both Antonio Conte and Paolo Montero sent off in the first half.
Celta strike first
Celta took the lead in the 18th minute with a well-worked team goal. The move passed from right to left before Willot Swedberg laid it off for Hugo Alvarez, who tapped in at the back post. Earlier, an Swedberg header had been straight at Guglielmo Vicario.
Juventus struggled to create clear openings in the first half. Teun Koopmeiners headed straight at the goalkeeper, and then failed to control a Pierre Kalulu pull-back from 10 yards. Koopmeiners also accidentally got in the way of a Kerim Alajbegovic strike, while Woltemade blasted over after letting a long ball bounce in the box.
Woltemade levels the score
Woltemade saw his effort charged down at the near post straight after the restart, and Celta keeper Radu then flew to push a Francisco Conceicao strike over the bar. From the resulting corner, the Portugal international fired another attempt straight at him.
Juventus finally drew level in the 58th minute. Koopmeiners whipped in a cross from the left, which Marcos Alonso clumsily chested down, turning it into an ideal assist for Woltemade, who swept in from 12 yards.
Celta continued to threaten on the counter-attack. A Rueda effort only hit the side-netting from a Jutgla slide-rule pass, before Kalulu got back to block Jutgla. Pape Malang Sarr then failed to make the most of another poor Alonso clearance, and Nico Gonzalez had a great chance when he twisted and turned in the box, only to bend his left-foot finish inches wide.
Kolo Muani completes the turnaround
Juventus turned the game around in added time. Andrea Cambiaso whipped in a cross from the left, and Randal Kolo Muani got between the defenders to nod in at the back post from point-blank range in the 91st minute.
Scorers: Hugo Alvarez 18 (Celta Vigo), Nick Woltemade 58 (Juventus), Randal Kolo Muani 91 (Juventus)