The scene as Juventus and Pafos FC walked into the tunnel at halftime of their Champions League matchup on Wednesday has become distressingly familiar.
Juve had allowed the Cyprian side—one of the true Cinderella stories of the game this year—to push them around from the word go. The visitors had forced Michele Di Gregorio into some impressive saves and clanged a shot off of the goalpost over the first 45 minutes. Once again, Juve had been lucky to be level with them as the halftime whistle blew, and the crowd was letting them have it as they headed into the locker room.
Whatever was said in that locker room at the half, though, was enough to get things back on course.
The second period was far closer to what you would expect when Juventus takes on a team from Cyprus. It still took longer than was comfortable to finally push through and score, but when they finally did push through they had netted twice in the space of five minutes, and held on to that lead with few issues as they eased themselves over the line for a 2-0 win that gives Juve a massive boost in their Champions League campaign.
Luciano Spalletti swiftly discarded his disastrous false-nine experiment, reverting back to a more familiar-looking 3-4-2-1. Federico Gatti, Dusan Vlahovic, and Carlo Pinsoglio were still missing from the squad, but got a huge boot with Daniele Rugani and Bremer returning to the bench after their respective injuries. Di Gregorio started behind the back three of Pierre Kalulu, Lloyd Kelly, and Teun Koopmeiners. Weston McKennie and Andrea Cambiaso were the wing-backs, around the midfield of Manuel Locatelli and Fabio Miretti. Edon Zhegrova was given his highly-anticipated full debut next to Kenan Yildiz in support of his old Lille teammate Jonathan David.
Pafos’ Juan Carlos Carcedo, a former assistant of Unai Emery at Sevilla, had turned his lowly (in terms of European competition) into a club no one wanted to play. He was without Ken Sema, but got Joao Correia back from a two-game suspension in the competition. He deployed a 3-4-2-1 of his own, anchored by Neofytos Michael in goal. Derrick Luckassen, David Goldar, and David Luiz (yes, that one) were arrayed in front of him. Bruno Felipe joined Correia back to his seat, while Ivan Sunjic and Pêpê Rodrigues running the midfield. Mislav Orsic and Vlad Dragomir (not a concerning name at all for a Romanian) played in behind striker Anderson Silva.
When the game started it looked like Juve had gotten the memo about the importance of the game and the on-paper gap between the two sides. But that quickly started to go south. The rhythm of the first half quickly became discernible: Juve would have relatively long spells of mostly sterile possession, interrupted by a series of sharp and dangerous counterattacks and set pieces from the visitors.
That established itself in the early going when Correia took down a long diagonal ball and laid it off for Silva, who blazed his shot wide of the upright. Less than a minute later Kelly’s attempt to clear a cross by Fernandez instead hit Cambiaso in the shins five yards from the goal, but Di Gregorio got down quickly to smother the potential own goal.
For a brief moment it looked like Juve had learned their lesson from that, and Kenan Yildiz stung Michael’s hands after bringing down a long ball, and in the 10th minute Koopmeiners went up for a free header off a corner, but his execution was desperately poor, heading into the ground so hard he bounced it over the goal instead of into it.
The season in a microcosm was acted out in the 18th minute, when a beautiful back-post corner delivery dropped to not one but two unmarked Juve players, but Koopmeiners and Cambiaso got in each other’s way and neither of them could actually come close enough to touch it.
Danger kept on pinging every time Pafos started moving downfield, and in the 28th minute the Bianconeri got a real scare when Correia sent in an excellent ball into the middle of the box that Dragomir only just got a touch to, turning a scary situation into a more routine save. But four minutes later Koopmeiners gave the ball away cheaply, leading to a lighting-fast counter by Orsic, whose cross was deflected into Silva’s path, and the Brazilian looked poised to sweep the ball into the bottom corner, but the goalpost had other ideas. Two quick corners followed, and Dragomir was left alone at the top of the box for a direct feed and hit a venomous volley that Di Gregorio somehow got up and poked over the bar.
TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 10: Juventus’ goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio saves the ball during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD6 match between Juventus and Pafos FC at Juventus Stadium on December 10, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 10: Juventus’ goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio saves the ball during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD6 match between Juventus and Pafos FC at Juventus Stadium on December 10, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Getty Images)
Juventus FC via Getty Images
With 10 minutes left or so, it was looking more and more like Juve were the team that was hanging on in the hopes of regrouping at halftime. But even then, they had a fantastic chance three minutes from the whistle when a corner was headed down to David’s feet in the six-yard box. It was a tricker shot than it looked at first glance, but still one that a striker of David’s reputation should bury, but instead hit his shot on the turn wide with the goal seemingly at his mercy.
The home team left the field to jeers from their own fans, a scene that is becoming progressively less surprising and more disappointing as the season—the past several seasons, really—became more and more common. The team was going to need a re-up at the half, and they were going to need it fast.
Fortunately, they got it.
Francisco Conceição came on for Zhegrova at the break, and things changed relatively quickly. Within the first five minutes the Bianconeri had attempted three shots, including a vicious low shot by Koopmeiners that was saved right to the feet of Yildiz, who blazed the rebound home at an angle.
A little bit before the hour mark yet another corner produced a shot in a good position on the far post, but Kelly headed it wide. Three minutes later Conceição tried to stuff the ball in at the near post from an incredibly tight angle, but Michael was equal to it.
It was here where Spalletti—who on Sunday had screwed up his substitutions to a major degree—made an interesting move, removing Locatell, who had just been booked after a rather blatant dive by David Luiz for Loïs Openda, leaving on the field one of the most attack-minded groups I’ve seen Juve put out in ages. It paid almost immediate dividends when Yildiz slipped the ball into the left channel for Openda, but Luckassen threw himself in front of the shot and diverted it wide.
On the ensuing corner, lightning struck.
As Cambiaso dribbled in the aftermath of the initial ball, he was about to get swarmed but found a pass to McKennie in the box. The big Texan wriggled between two defenders of his own with his first touch before slamming the ball into the near top corner to give Juve the lead and cut the tension in the stadium that had been thick as a sheet of velour. Incredibly, it was the first time Juve had scored first in the entire competition thus far.
TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 10: Weston McKennie of Juventus scores his team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD6 match between Juventus and Pafos FC at Juventus Stadium on December 10, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 10: Weston McKennie of Juventus scores his team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD6 match between Juventus and Pafos FC at Juventus Stadium on December 10, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Getty Images)
Juventus FC via Getty Images
Consolidating leads has been problematic for Juve the last few seasons, but they wasted little time in doing so on this night. It started with McKennie winning the ball in midfield before Conceição made a great turn and charged upfield. It was a three-on-one breakaway, and both of the Portuguese’ companions would factor into the ultimate result. Conceição quickly pushed the ball forward for Yildiz on his left, and the No. 10—wearing the captain’s armband after Locatelli’s withdrawal—hit a first time pass to David, who had all the time in the world to take a touch to be sure of himself before stroking it past a charging Michael to finish a textbook counter.
The final 15 minutes and change of the game were relatively uneventful. The one-two punch had taken most of the wind out of Pafos’ sails, and it was mostly about seeing things out. There was one almighty scare three minutes from time when Di Gregorio took way too long holding the ball and was nearly tackled off it by Mons Bassouamina, but the Pafos sub fouled him, allowing the entire stadium to exhale. The minutes ticked on, and when the final whistle blew, Juve had their first winning streak in the Champions League since the first two games of last season, and their position in the table became far more comfortable—but my no means luxurious.