Alex Grimaldo and Luca Clemenza provided the only scores of regulation in Saturday’s Benfica and Juventus International Champions Cup match in New Jersey.
Alex Grimaldo and Luca Clemenza provided the only scores of regulation in Saturday’s Benfica and Juventus International Champions Cup match in New Jersey.
Juventus ended up with the victory, prevailing 4-2 in a shootout against its Premeira Liga foe.
But the two goals in regulation were absolute beauties. The squads played a scoreless first half in the matchup at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, before Grimaldo registered the initial tally. The Spanish left back stepped up for a free kick in the 65th minute during the sequence. He lined up from about 30 yards out before blasting a shot with his left boot into the upper right corner.
Juventus keeper Mattia Perin barely moved for the attempt, watching the ball fly by to his left for the game’s first score.
Clemenza equalized for the Serie A champs in the 84th minute. The Italian subbed into the match for striker Federico Bernadeschi in the 72nd minute. Clemenza sprinted down the right flank on the play before drawing a crowd of Benfica defenders. He held the ball on his left boot, before splitting a duo of defenders. He then used his left foot to rip a shot past a diving Odisseas Vlachodimos to tie the game.
Keaton Parks gave Benfica the initial lead in the shootout, before Nicolo Fagioli equalized for Juventus. Jonas Goncalves Oliveira and Joao Felix went on to miss their attempts in the shootout, while Juventus did not miss any of its penalty tries.
Juventus takes on the MLS All-Stars at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Benfica battles Lyon at 4:05 p.m. on Aug. 1 at Estadio Algarve in Portugal.
