Juventus 3 Maccabi Haifa 1 - Report

Juventus got off the mark in the Champions League with Wednesday's 3-1 win over Maccabi Haifa powered by an inspired performance from Angel Di Maria.

Argentina winger Di Maria set up Adrien Rabiot's brace and a further strike from Dusan Vlahovic to give Juve their first points in Group H.

They sit four points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica in the group and next week have a trip to Israel where they will again be favourites.

No Israeli team has ever won away in the Champions League and although Barak Bakhar's team halved their deficit through substitute Din David with 15 minutes remaining and twice struck the post, they fell to their ninth straight defeat in the competition.

Maccabi were backed by a loud and large contingent of away fans at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, which hosted a meagre crowd of under 29,000 as Juve supporters disillusioned with recent results continue to stay away from what was once a couldron of a ground.

Di Maria is serving a two-match suspension in Serie A and showed what Juve are missing domestically with a performance which could have comfortably finished with four assists.

The hosts should have been ahead by the 12th minute as Vlahovic spurned two great chances to score his sixth goal of the season in the space of seconds.

First the Serbia forward had a low shot well saved by Josh Cohen, and then after exchanging passes with Filip Kostic he scuffed a simpler finish wide.

Fans hoping for all-out attack were to be disappointed though, as Juve settled into the similar pattern of tedium that has afflicted most of their performances this season.

However Di Maria showed the kind of creativity Juve have been missing in the 35th minute with an exquisite pass for Rabiot, who combined his smart