Juventus woke up in the Champions League: they defeated Olympiacos.

The Argentine Gonzalo Higuaín was decisive in giving Juventus the victory against Greek Olympiacos in Group D of the Champions League, entering in the second half and unlocking a complicated match with a goal 20 minutes before the end.

The "Pipita" started the game on the bench, but entered an hour into the match and took advantage of his first chance to give an advantage to Juventus, who sealed their victory thanks to the goal from 2-0 scored by the Croatian Mario Mandzukic.

Juventus reached second place in Group D, level with Sporting Lisbon, with Barcelona as the solid leader, adding six points from two matches.

In addition to Higuaín's absence due to technical decision, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri could not count on Bosnian Miralem Pjanic, who dropped out of the starting eleven due to a physical problem just before the start of the match.

Thus, it was the young Uruguayan Rodrigo Bentancur who formed the double pivot alongside the Frenchman Blaise Matuidi; the former Boca Juniors midfielder has already played five of Juventus' eight matches in this start of the season and is gaining the coach's esteem with good performances.

After Barcelona's stumble, the Turin team faced tonight's match with the obligation to win, but they had trouble creating dangerous chances in the first 30 minutes due to the intense pressure from Olympiacos.

However, in the final phase of the first half, Juventus increased the pressure and, after a header from Mandzukic saved for a corner by Belgian goalkeeper Silvio Proto, they came close to taking the lead in the 45th minute, when a cross from the Brazilian Alex Sandro was deflected onto the post by Belgian defender Bjorn Engels.

In the second half, the "bianconeri" again suffered under Olympiacos' pressure, which encouraged Allegri to bring on Higuaín, applauded by the Allianz Stadium fans when he came on to replace Cuadrado after an hour of play.

And the "Pipita" took just nine minutes to score his first Champions League goal of the year after a cross from Alex Sandro: the Argentine struck first with his left foot and, after Proto's save, finished with his right foot to break the deadlock (m.69).

It was an important goal for Higuaín, who had been receiving harsh criticism from part of the Turin team's environment for his recent performances.

After taking the lead, Juventus had much more space to combine in the offensive zone and sealed the match with the goal from 2-0, which was created from a play by the Argentine Paulo Dybala and finished by Mandzukic.

Dybala tried to beat Proto with a lob that was cleared off the goal line by Engels, before Mandzukic himself pushed it into the net (m.80).

Thus, Juventus won a tough match and revived their European ambitions after the heavy defeat suffered in the first round at Camp Nou.

Follow minute by minute the Juventus vs Olympiacos

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Juventus vs Olympiacos | Lineups

Juventus: Gianluigi Buffon; Andrea Barzagli, Mehdi Benatia, Alex Sandro, Mattia De Sciglio; Blaise Matuidi, Miralem Pjanić, Douglas Costa, Rodrigo Bentancur; Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuaín.

Olympiacos: To be confirmed.

This is how Juventus did in their last game

Juventus thrashed Torino 4-0 in the derby, with a double from Argentine Paulo Dybala and goals from Bosnian Miralem Pjanic and Brazilian Alex Sandro, and reached the top of the Italian league table alongside Napoli.

Another great performance from "Joya" Dybala, who already has ten goals in the league and twelve in total, propelled Juventus that never gave Torino a chance and maintained their perfect record after the first six rounds.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri surprised tonight by leaving Argentine Gonzalo Higuaín on the bench and opting for a 4-2-3-1 with Dybala, Colombian Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Brazilian Douglas Costa, and Croatian Mario Mandzukic up front.

The "Pipita," heavily criticized by part of the Turin team's environment for his recent performances, watched his teammates until the 80th minute when he came on to replace Mandzukic.

Juventus dominated Torino from the first minute and went into halftime with a comfortable 2-0 lead thanks to goals from "Joya" Dybala, who opened the scoring in the 16th minute, and Miralem Pjanic, who extended the lead in the 40th minute.

Allegri's team dominated from the beginning and never gave Torino a chance, with the match being heavily affected by the double yellow card to Daniele Baselli, who had to leave the field in the 24th minute after committing two naive fouls.

As the minutes passed, Torino lost lucidity and ended up being thrashed: in the 57th minute, Alex Sandro sealed the 3-0 with a header after a corner kick, while Dybala capped off his great performance with the 4-0 in added time.