Historic Champions League debut of Dusan Vlahovic will not be awarded


Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 10:51 PM• Tom Rofekamp • Last update: 23:03

Villarreal and Juventus have shared the points in the first head-to-head showdown of the eighth final of the Champions League. In Spain was la Vecchia SIgnora, with Matthijs de Ligt in the base, the better match for a long time, but had to settle for a 1-1 final score. Dusan Vlahovic gave himself an unforgettable Champions League debut by taking care of the opening goal after just 32 seconds. This made the Serb the fastest-scoring debutant in the billion-dollar ball ever. At Villarreal, Arnaut Danjuma started in the base, who was substituted just before time.

The evening couldn’t have started better for De Ligt and his associates. Vlahovic, in his very first minute of play in the Champions League ever, got a cross from Danilo and defeated Gerónimo Rulli with a low shot into the far corner. There were only 32 seconds on the clock: never has a goal been scored faster by a debutant in the billion-dollar ball. The previous record was held by Andy Möller, who scored 37 seconds on behalf of Borussia Dortmund in 1995 in the 3-1 loss to Juventus. It was also Vlahovic’s ‘second debut goal’: the striker also scored in his league debut for Juventus against Hellas Verona (2-0).

Villarreal was not deterred by the early goal. With just under fifteen minutes on the clock, Giovani Lo Celso came very close to the equalizer, but his effort shattered on the post. Not much later, Danjuma was almost allowed to celebrate. The the Dutch international, who scored three more times against Granada (1-4) last weekend, tried it with a stylish chop, but saw Wojciech Szczesny turn. Juventus took back control and moved more and more towards half of the home side. Vlahovic in particular was lurking for a second goal, but when the whistle signaled before half-time, the score was still 0-1.

Immediately after tea, Juventus started looking to expand the margin. However, Massimiliano Allegri’s team got no further than a volley wide of Alvaro Morata before Villarreal regained the ghost.El Submarino Amarillo let the ball go around faster and faster and equalized halfway through the second act. Etienne Capoue hurled the ball towards the penalty area, where Dani Parejo had completely escaped the attention of the Italian center. The midfielder did not think twice and completed in one go with the left behind Szczesny. Juventus proved insufficiently inspired in the remainder of the game to be able to force anything and had to settle for a point. Adrien Rabiot committed another scandalous offense in the last fifteen minutes, for which he was punished very mildly with a yellow card.