Juventus and Rennes Share the Points in 2-2 Thriller After Late VAR Disallowance

It took Juventus just 4 minutes to go ahead at the Allianz Stadium, and only 10 more for Rennes to level things up. That's how fast this one started, a match that finished 2-2 and left both sides feeling like something got away from them, especially the hosts, who watched a late goal get wiped off the board by VAR. The result came in the Europa League's league phase.

The opening goal came from a quick counterattack: Nick Woltemade slipped in a through ball and Zeki Çelik finished low to the near post for 1-0. Rennes answered almost immediately. In the 14th minute, Mousa Al Tamari headed home a close-range cross from Bryan Reynolds to tie things up. The match had already shown its hand: end to end action, with neither side giving the other any breathing room.

The first half brought more drama. Federico Gatti picked up a yellow card for dangerous play, and right before the break came the tougher blow for the home side: a handball by Douglas Luiz inside the box that the referee called as a penalty. Boulaye Dia made no mistake, converting it for 1-2 in the 42nd minute, a scoreline that held until halftime.

In the second half, Juventus found their way back through the same route that had hurt them earlier: the penalty spot. Bryan Reynolds handled the ball inside the area in the 64th minute, and two minutes later Woltemade, this time as the finisher, made it 2-2 with a shot down the middle. It was his second direct involvement in the match's goals, after setting up the first.

The closing stretch had everything except more goals on the board. Juventus pushed with substitutions (Jhon Lucumí, Jérémie Boga and Nico González all came on) in search of a third, and seemed to find it in the 87th minute when Lucumí's shot went in, only for VAR review to chalk it off. Two minutes later came the official confirmation: no goal. With eight minutes of stoppage time ahead, neither side found a winner.

What the numbers say

Juventus had a bit more of the ball and were sharper in possession, but Rennes didn't fall short in the final third.

Based on our xG estimate calculated from the match's shots, Juventus generated 2.461 expected goals to Rennes' 2.088, a razor thin difference that reflects just how even this game really was.

Our preview published ahead of the match gave Juventus a 56% chance of winning, with a 24% chance of a draw and 20% for Rennes, and we projected a scoreline with more home goals than away goals (2.01 expected goals to 1.14). The final result went against that forecast: Rennes not only scored twice, they were ahead on the scoreboard for a good stretch of the match, and in the end the draw was the outcome, not the home win that looked most likely.

In the standings, Juventus arrive at this match with 7 points from 3 games played (2 wins and 1 draw), while Rennes have 5 points from the same 3 games (1 win and 2 draws), a gap of 2 points between the two sides. Today's draw adds another tie to each team's ledger, in a competition where the standings are still taking shape.

What remains from this match is the image of two teams trading blows all night: four goals, two converted penalties, a goal disallowed in stoppage time and a final score that, in the end, reflected no clear edge between the two sides.