Juventus 3-1 Maccabi Haifa: Adrien Rabiot and Dusan Vlahovic on target to ease pressure on Max Allegri

Angel Di Maria was the star of the show as he plotted Juventus’ way to a first win of their Champions League campaign by beating Maccabi Haifa 3-1. The Argentine’s passing was on another level as pocketed a hat-trick of assists, often leaving the visiting defence spellbound by his ability to find his teammates.

Ad The hosts enjoyed some bright moments in the opening 20 minutes, but were unable to make their pressure pay as Vlahovic missed a handful of chances. He did at least test goalkeeper Josh Cohen with one of them, seeing a low shot tipped away by an outstretched fingertip, before wasting a glorious opening when dragging wide from Filip Kostic’s pass.

Champions LeagueThe Europa League looms large over Barcelona again – The Warm-Up14 HOURS AGO As the half wore on, the Juventus players became frustrated, and so did their fans, who were at times whistling and jeering from the stands. Maccabi grew in confidence, but a lack of end product meant they didn’t test Wojciech Szczesny, and they were then hit with a hammer blow when Adrien Rabiot ran onto Di Maria’s superb pass and lifted the ball into the back of the net to hand his side the lead.

The second goal came straight after the break, and Di Maria was once again involved as he released Vlahovic with a sumptuous outside of the boot pass. The striker ran through one-on-one and finally got his goal, comfortably finishing to surely put the game to bed.

From then on, Juventus were cruising, with Di Maria superbly creating two more chances for Vlahovic, one of which was saved, while the other found the back of the net but was ruled out for offside. Maccabi Haifa found a way back into the game when substitute Dean David stunned the Allianz Stadium by rounding Szczesny and