Super-sub Yildiz bags a brace to earn Juventus a draw with Inter in eight-goal thriller
After a cagey first 10 minutes, this contest burst into life when Inter were awarded a penalty thanks to a clumsy challenge from Danilo. Marcus Thuram stole in ahead of the Brazilian as he attempted a clearance, initiating the contact and winning a spot-kick that was confidently dispatched down the middle of the goal by Piotr Zielinski.
That sense of injustice sparked the Old Lady into life, and they needed just five minutes to restore parity. A sumptuous ball over the top from Juan Cabal found the run of Weston McKennie, and the American showed tremendous composure to square for Dusan Vlahovic to turn home.
Thiago Motta’s men were now armed with the momentum, and they were ahead before long. A brilliant piece of wing play from Francisco Conceicao saw him deceive Henrikh Mkhitaryan, allowing him the space to square for Timothy Weah to slot into an unguarded net.
The San Siro was stunned, but this topsy-turvy clash had two more goals in store before the break as the Nerazzurri turned the contest on its head.
First, a silky Inter move culminated in a give-and-go between Thuram and Mkhitaryan, with the Armenian drilling a low effort into the bottom corner.
Simone Inzaghi’s men were then awarded another spot-kick for an almost identical offence, with Pierre Kalulu the culprit on this occasion. Zielinski cleaned up from 12 yards once more, firing low and hard into the bottom corner past the despairing Michele Di Gregorio despite the goalkeeper guessing correctly.
The interval came at a good time for the Bianconeri, but they were unable to regroup and saw their deficit double within eight minutes of the restart.
Having earlier miskicked in a promising area when receiving a rebound, Denzel Dumfries made no mistake as he slotted into the bottom corner after pouncing on the loose ball from a corner.
Full of confidence, Inter’s Federico Dimarco saw a venomous long-range drive saved at the near post, before his corner delivery was headed wide by Lautaro Martinez.
Those misses proved costly as Juventus reduced the arrears against the run of play through substitute Kenan Yildiz. Dumfries allowed the young Turk too much time on the ball, and Yildiz punished him by arrowing his effort into the far corner past a helpless Yann Sommer.
The Swiss stopper was much closer to Yildiz’s next effort, but there was still nothing he could do as the low strike burst through his grasp to make it 4-4.
A winner either way would’ve been harsh on either side, so perhaps fittingly the spoils were shared after a true classic.
Juventus had only previously conceded once in the league all season, so shipping four in one night came as a shock. The draw also leaves them some five points adrift of early pacesetters Napoli, with the Nerazzurri one point better off despite failing to win for the first time in six matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)