Juventus held at Manchester City as Liverpool rue lost chance

Napoli come back from three-down in Europa League.

MANCHESTER: Juventus, amazingly held 3-3 at home by Poland’s Lech Poznan, took an early lead at Manchester City but were held to a 1-1 draw in the Europa League on Thursday.

Juventus took the lead when Vincenzo Iaquinta cut inside from the left and scored with a shot which clipped Kolo Toure’s head and flew past Joe Hart. Adam Johnson levelled before halftime in the Group A match when he slotted home Yaya Toure’s pass. Juve nearly snatched the points when Alessandro del Piero’s free kick hit the underside of the crossbar five minutes from time.

Lech Poznan went top of the group, ahead of Manchester City on goals scored, with a 2-0 win over Salzburg, thanks to second-half goals from Manuel Arboleda and Slawomir Peszko. Poznan and City each have four points.

Napoli register stunning fightback

Napoli recovered from three goals down to draw 3-3 at Steaua Bucharest as holders Atletico Madrid were held 1-1 by Bayer Leverkusen.

Napoli made a disastrous start in Romania, falling 3-0 behind in only 16 minutes as Cristian Tanase, with a free kick, and Pantelis Kapetanos added to a second-minute own goal by Emilson Cribani, who deflected a shot into the net.

But former European champions Steaua collapsed after Kapetanos was sent off in the 31st minute following a clash with Fabiano Santacroce. Luigi Vitali pulled one back just before the break and Steaua twice hit the woodwork before substitute Marek Hamsik reduced the arrears in the 73rd. Napoli’s forward Edinson Cavani completed the fightback by snatching the equaliser in the eighth minute of stoppage time to give the Italian side their second draw in two Group K games.

Following Juventus’ draw, Italian teams, who failed to win in the opening round of games, produced a much better performance with Sampdoria and Palermo also claiming 1-0 home victories.

Porto maintained their 100 percent record, sealing a 10th successive win by beating CSKA Sofia 1-0 away and Liverpool were held to a goalless draw at Utrecht.

Moldova’s Sheriff Tiraspol provided the night’s biggest upset with a 2-0 win over Ukraine’s Dynamo Kiev, helped by a bizarre opening goal, and Sporting Lisbon got the biggest win with a 5-0 demolition of Levski Sofia.

Atletico, beaten by Aris Salonika in their first Group-B game, fell behind to a goal from Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok six minutes before halftime at home to erratic Germans Bayer Leverkusen. Simao Sabrosa converted a penalty after the break to give Atletico their first point of the group, but the Spaniards are still bottom while Bayer lead with four points.

Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini scored from the spot as they beat visitors Debrecen 1-0 in Group I to claim the first win for an Italian team in this season’s competition, while PSV Eindhoven won 2-0 at Metalist Kharkiv in the same group.

Italy’s Palermo also won but it was far from convincing as they needed a goal from Giulio Migliaccio in the 79th minute to beat Swiss second division outfit Lausanne Sport.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2010.