Juventus Dominates NEC 5-0 in Europa League Opener
NEC’s Europa League return lasted all of a few brutal minutes in Turin. By the end of the night, Dick Schreuder’s side had been taken apart, 5-0, by a Juventus team that barely needed to hit top gear.
It started badly. It never really improved.
Early chaos, early punishment
With Gonzalo Crettaz suspended, Nikolas Polster was handed the gloves for NEC, protected by a spine of familiar names: Tjaronn Chery, Dusan Tadic, Bryan Linssen. On the other side, Teun Koopmeiners had to settle for a place on the Juventus bench.
Within three minutes, NEC were already hanging on. Federico Gatti thought he had opened the scoring, only for his effort to be ruled out for a foul on Polster. A let-off, the kind that usually jolts a team awake.
It didn’t.
Nicolás González burst clear soon after, Polster charged off his line and completely misjudged the situation, swiping at air. González simply rolled the ball into an empty net. 1-0, and Juventus had their platform.
Juventus turn the screw
From there, the Italian side tightened their grip. Polster briefly held the line with a smart save from a Nick Woltemade header, but he was helpless when Kerim Alajbegovic stepped up from distance and unleashed a thunderous drive. The ball flew in for 2-0, and NEC’s resistance already looked flimsy.
The pressure kept building. Almugera Kabar clipped González in the box, the referee pointed to the spot, and Woltemade calmly made it 3-0. Clinical, ruthless, and barely halfway through the contest.
Between those two Juventus goals, NEC’s night got even worse. Clement Bischoff pulled up with a hamstring problem and had to be replaced by Dennis Geiger, robbing Schreuder of a key midfielder before the break.
Flickers of hope, no reward
To their credit, NEC didn’t completely fold before half-time. They carved out a handful of chances that at least asked questions of Kamil Grabara. Noé Lebreton forced a save, Kabar also tested the Juventus goalkeeper, and Linssen lashed an effort over the bar when he might have done better.
Those moments, though, felt more like interruptions to Juventus’ control than the start of a comeback.
Second half drifts away
After the interval, the tempo dropped. Juventus were satisfied, managing the game, recycling possession. NEC had the ball in safer areas but carried little threat.
Only Geiger, with a long-range strike, hinted at anything resembling danger. Grabara watched it, dealt with it, and the match slipped back into the pattern Juventus wanted: slow, controlled, suffocating for the visitors.
Then, as legs tired and spaces opened, the scoreline turned ugly.
Late goals seal a heavy defeat
In the final quarter of an hour, Juventus twisted the knife. Randal Kolo Muani, lively off the bench, drove to the byline and pulled the ball back perfectly for Zeki Çelik. The finish was crisp, the marking loose, and it was 4-0.
Moments later, Kolo Muani took centre stage himself. Slipped through on goal, he rounded the advancing Polster with ease and tapped into an empty net for 5-0. Any lingering hope of damage limitation vanished with that touch.
The whistle eventually came as a relief for NEC. A bruising start, a harsh lesson in European efficiency.
Now the question is simple: how quickly can Schreuder’s side absorb this punishment and respond, or will Turin linger over the rest of their Europa League campaign?
