Vlahovic penalty saves valuable point for Juventus against lively Lille
After defeating both Madrid sides in previous UCL Gameweeks, Lille had another European heavyweight in their line of sight - a giant that had lost last time out at home to Stuttgart.
The French side edged the opening stages with things finely balanced.
But just before the half-hour mark, the Pierre Mauroy Stadium erupted after Edon Zhegrova played a sublime pass to carve open the Juve defence, which sent Jonathan David through on goal, and the Canadian finished with aplomb into the far corner.
Thiago Motta’s men rarely threatened until they found themselves a goal down, but almost immediately levelled the scoreline after Manuel Locatelli’s ball into the box was powered goalwards by Dusan Vlahovic, only for Lucas Chevalier to make a stunning reaction save.
The drama kept coming right up to half-time, and Juventus finally looked to have broken through when Kenan Yıldız’s cutback was scuffed in by Teun Koopmeiners. However, Juve’s celebrations were cut short after the Turkish youngster was found to be narrowly offside before providing the would-be assist.
The Old Lady came out for the second half with clear intent but Chevalier was doing all that he could to protect his side’s lead, as the Frenchman made a strong save to deny Khephren Thuram.
However, the goalkeeper’s teammates did him no favours as Francisco Conceicao was brought down in the box, which allowed Vlahovic to fire in from the penalty spot.
Motta sensed blood and made a triple change in an attempt to shake things up for his side to go for all three points.
Lille struggled to pose an attacking threat in the second period but almost snuck a second goal through a pop shot from a tight angle by Zhegrova but Michele Di Gregorio was on hand to make a rare save.
In the end, neither side was able to find the winning goal and settled for a point apiece, keeping both teams on seven points.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lucas Chevalier (LOSC Lille)
