Photo courtesy of EPL Football Match

Lincoln Financial Field. Stadium of champions.

No, not the reigning Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles. The “Linc,” home of the American football champs, saw two European football juggernauts face off Wednesday night as part of the 2018 International Champions Cup. Germany’s Bundesliga winners F.C. Bayern Munich and Italy’s Serie A victors Juventus F.C. met on the gridiron with Italian powerhouse walking away with a 2-0 shutout victory.

Although the fans in attendance were unable to see some of the super-stars on both teams’ rosters like new Juventus signing Cristiano Ronaldo or Bayern phenom Robert Lewandowski to name a couple, club staples like Juventus’s Giorgio Chiellini and Bayern’s Arjen Robben were there for Philadelphia’s entertainment.

Both sides generated their opportunities with a defense-first approach, though in different manners. While Bayern Munich played around with the ball in the back, knocking it back and forth waiting for the right opening to push forward, Juventus played a sort of bend-but-don’t break defense at the half-way line, containing the Bundesliga giants in their own half, waiting for a mistake on which to capitalize. Bayern, on the other hand, brought the pressure to Juventus, pressing high, trying to force a mistake, rather than wait for one to occur.

The first close call of the match came from Juventus in just the third minute. After waiting for that first Bayern mistake, Juventus finally got it. Juventus’s Andrea Favilli collected it just outside the corner of the six-yard box and had a shot, but it was a bit high and keeper Sven Ulreich tipped it over the net.

It wasn’t long before Bayern responded, as Sandro Wagner pulled a bit of magic inside the box and delivered a through ball to Meritan Shabani, but Shabani couldn’t get a good touch on it. Juventus keeper Mattia Perin scooped it up easily.

Both sides would trade chances like that for most of the first half, working their way into the box but ultimately falling short, until Sven Ulreich made a costly mistake in the 32nd minute. Coming out to save an errant Bayern back pass from going out for a corner, Ulreich slid along the endline and knocked the ball right to Claudio Marchisio, who trapped it and sent it in to a charging Andrea Favilli. With Ulreich still out from the slide, Favilli hit it in the back of the net with ease. One-nil Juventus.

Favilli would nab a brace with Juventus’s second goal not long after. In the 40th minute, the forward managed to stay onside for an Alex Sandro chip over Bayern’s backline. Once again Favilli collected it, and it was just him and the keeper. Favilli came out on top, placing it on the back post, past Ulreich’s reach. It would be the final goal of the half, as Juventus walked into the locker room, up 2-0.

The second half saw very different lineups but more of the same play, as both sides stuck to their respective strategies. Bayern Munich had more pressure on their opponent than vise-versa, and as a result they generated more chances, both from inside the box and outside. But, as in the first half, the German super-side was couldn’t capitalize on said chances. After a back-and-forth match, packed full of fruitless but exciting chances, Juventus were able to hold onto their 2-0 lead.

Although Cristiano Ronaldo was nowhere to be found, fans walked out of Lincoln Financial field with a good game-day experience – enough to hold them off until August, when The Linc welcomes back the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (sorry, but that will never get old).

Lineups

Juventus F.C.

Mattia Perin (Carlo Pinsoglio – 72′), Mattia De Sciglio, Daniele Rugani (Mattia Caldara – 56′), Giorgio Chiellini, Alex Sandro, Claudio Marchisio (Leandro Fernandes – half), Miralem Pjanic (Grigoris Kastanos – 71′), Emre Can (Nicolo Fagioli – 44′), João Cancelo (Roman Macek – 71′), Andrea Favilli (Stefano Beltrame – 54′), Federico Bernardeschi (Matheus Pereira – 59′)

Unused subs: Andrea Barzagli, Medhi Benatia, Pietro Beruatto, Luca Clemenza, Mattia Del Favero, Alessandro Di Pardo, Sami Khedira,

F.C. Bayern Munich

Sven Ulreich, Ryan Johansson (Rafinha – half), Javi Martinez (David Alaba – 36′), Josip Stansic (Chris Richards – half), Juan Bernat (Jonathan Meier – half), Serge Gnabry (Arjen Robben – half), Marcel Zylla (Jeong Woo-Yeoung – half), Paul Will (Maximilian Zaiser – half), Meritan Shabani (Renato Sanches – half), Franck Ribéry (Kingsley coman – half), Sandro Wagner (Kwasi Okyere Wriedt – half)

Unused subs: Kingsley Coman, Christian Früchtl, Ron-Thorben Hoffman, Joshua Coman

Scoring Summary

JUV: Favilli (32′)

JUV: Favilli (40′)