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Juventus played host to Lokomotiv Moscow at the Juventus Stadium in a Group D Champions League fixture. Given the difference in size and quality of players between both teams, the home side were expected to easily pick up all three points, but their Russian opponents made life very difficult for them.
Yuri Semin had set his team up to defend deep and catch their more illustrious hosts on the break and that was exactly what happened. Juventus struggled to break down a resilient Lokomotiv Moscow defense before going behind in the 30th minute when Aleksei Miranchuk was on hand to score after Wojciech Szczęsny parried into his path.
Maurizio Sarri sought to switch things up after the restart and introduced Gonzalo Higuain in Sami Khedira's stead. But Lokomotiv held firm and seemed destined for all three points until some late heroics by Paulo Dybala helped the Turin giants complete the comeback victory.
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Here, we look at three talking points from the Champions League clash.
#3 Juventus take a big step towards qualification for the knockout rounds
Juventus' status as defending Serie A champions meant that they were placed in Pot A of the Champions League seeding, thereby avoiding some of the other 'big boys' like Barcelona, Manchester City and Liverpool.
However, some tricky opponents still lay within the other three pots and fans of the Bianconeri would have waited with bated breath on the day the draws for the group stage were made.
As it turned out, the perennial Italian champions were pitted against Atletico Madrid, Lokomotiv Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen in Group D. And while the group might not exactly be described as a walkover, things could have been much worse for Sarri's men.
Atletico Madrid and Juventus are by far the two best teams in the group, and it was widely expected that the pair would qualify for the next round.
Both teams clashed on matchday 1 and played out an entertaining 2-2- draw. With Juventus' most difficult fixture navigated, the attention turned to the remaining matches.
A comfortable 3-0 victory was recorded over Bayer Leverkusen on matchday 2 to take Juventus on to four points. And with Atletico having posted a narrow 1-0 victory over the same opponents earlier on matchday 3, the onus was on Juventus to get the job one against Lokomotiv.
Though it was far from convincing, the Italians ultimately did enough to get all three points. They thus moved to the top of the table with seven points from a possible nine.
This means both Atletico Madrid and Juventus hold a four-point advantage in the group and are finely poised to make it to the next round. Although there are still three matchdays to go, it looks highly likely that the two pre-tournament favorites would still be in the competition come next year.
#2 Ronaldo made to wait for new record
Since making his professional debut in August 2002, Cristiano Ronaldo has played his way into being considered arguably the greatest player ever to lace up a pair of football boots. The Madeira native has set so many records that it would be very difficult if not impossible to list them all.
He has conquered almost all fronts, but one stage stands out from the rest as almost a personal vineyard. Ronaldo more often than not saves his best performances for the Champions League.
A number of records have been shattered, set and re-set by the 34-year-old, including - becoming the first player to score 100 goals, the first player to score 100 goals for one club, the player with the most knockout goals, the first player to score in 11 consecutive matches, the all-time leading goalscorer and the first player to score 15 goals in a single tournament.
It is almost difficult to imagine that there is any record left to be broken by Ronaldo. But that happens to be the case; for all of his greatness, there is one feat yet to be attained by Ronaldo.
Throughout his Champions League career, Ronaldo has faced 50 different clubs in the Champions League and has scored against 33 of those, with teams like Barcelona, Dinamo Zagreb, Napoli and Legia Warsaw among the teams he has drawn blanks against.
This figure puts him equal with the legendary Raul Gonzalez, who also scored against 33 different clubs across his 17-year European career with Schalke 04 and Real Madrid.
The game against Lokomotiv Moscow offered Ronaldo an opportunity to steer clear of his former teammate. But in what was an uncharacteristically anonymous display, he failed to truly test Guilherme in the Lokomotiv goal.
This was the first time Ronaldo had come up against the Russians. Having failed to break the record at the first try, the return leg in Moscow would offer him ample opportunity to add another milestone to a burgeoning collection.
#1 Paulo Dybala was the difference-maker
As recently as two years ago, Paulo Dybala had the world at his feet and was earmarked as one of the stars o the future. The Argentine international had just guided Juventus to the final of the Champions League, starring with 19 goals in all competitions, as Max Allegri's side narrowly missed out on a treble.
A season later, he stepped it up several notches and weighed in with 26 goals on all fronts. But despite his monstrous club form Dybala faced uncertainty going into the World Cup, as his similarity of roles with Lionel Messi meant that both men could not be deployed together.
Ultimately, he made it to Russia but only played a bit-part role as La Albiceleste got dumped at the Round-of-16 stage.
Following his disastrous World Cup campaign, Dybala returned to the club scene to see his position as the top dog usurped by another superstar - this time in the person of Messi's great rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who had just completed a mega move to Juventus.
That resulted in a drastic reduction in Dybala's role. He was restricted to just 24 starts in the league last season, scoring only five goals.
Things were expected to get progressively worse and he was widely tipped to leave Turin over the summer, with Manchester United and Tottenham among his reported suitors. But both deals broke down at the last minute, and Dybala stayed put.
He has starred sparingly this season but was handed a rare start against Lokomotiv. And after spurning a good chance to level matters at the start of the second half, Dybala sprung to life with two well-taken goals with less than 15 minutes left in the game.
The first of those was a thing of beauty, with the 25-year-old picking the ball up from Juan Cuadrado on the edge of the box. He set himself up with a right-footed touch before unleashing an unstoppable curler into the back of the net with his trusted left foot.
The second saw him show his predatory instincts as he latched on to a parry by Guilherme and slotted under the goalkeeper to complete the comeback victory.
Despite his recent struggles, Dybala remains a playmaker of the highest quality. And he reminded everyone of that with his performance against Lokomotiv Moscow.
