Former Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly was Juventus’ villain and hero on the opening night of the Champions League.
While Newcastle United vs Barcelona is not until Thursday night, the 2025/26 Champions League campaign got underway on Tuesday.
One of the marquee matches saw Juventus take on Borussia Dortmund in Turin, as the two sides played out an absolutely breathless second half.
The score was only 0-0 at half-time, yet Juve and Dortmund went on to share the points after an eight-goal thriller.
The final score was 4-4, with Lloyd Kelly rescuing a point for the club he left Newcastle United to join in January 2025. After giving away a penalty that allowed Dortmund to go 4-2 up, Kelly was Juventus’ hero in the 96th minute. He scored a header to salvage a draw, as his spectacular run of form continues.
Kelly scored his first Juventus goal on Saturday, and now he has already doubled his tally by netting his first ever Champions League goal.
Lloyd Kelly scores a diving header to make it 4-4 in the Champions League between Juventus and Borussia Dortmund.
Photo by Filippo Alfero – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images
It has not been the easiest of starts to life in Italy for Kelly. But he was certainly the hero on Tuesday night.
His goal gave Juventus a point in their first Champions League game, with most of the Italian media believing his last-gasp header makes up for any other mistake he has made.
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Calciomercato gave the 26-year-old a rating of 6.5, writing: “The final goal erases all indecision and every mistake, too heavy.”
Only Kenan Yildiz and Dusan Vlahovic got higher scores from Calciomercato.
Sky Italia were more generous and gave Kelly a 7/10, with Gazzetta also giving him the same score. They described him as a ‘true striker’ following his stoppage time heroics.
Finally, Football Italia gave Kelly a 6.5 and wrote: “A handful in the opposition area, but should have done better for Adeyemi’s opener, and then gave away a penalty for a slightly unfortunate handball. All forgiven for the crazy, last-moment equaliser in injury-time.”
The other former Newcastle United players in Champions League action on Tuesday
Kelly was not the only former Newcastle United player to grace European football’s elite competition on Tuesday night.
Ayoze Perez was back in England, starting up front for Villarreal against Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Unfortunately, it was a disappointing return to English shores as Perez’s side lost 1-0.
Elsewhere, Mikel Merino played the full 90 minutes as Arsenal beat Athletic Club 2-0 away from home.
The Champions League draw has put Newcastle and Athletic Club together, with the two sides set to meet at St James’ Park in November.