Bayern Munich draw 2-2 with Juventus in a tale of two-halves

The first half of this match was all Bayern Munich as the hosts looked ready to steamroll a meek Juventus side. But the second half exposed just how deadly Juventus can be as they dropped the hammer on Bayern Munich en route to securing a deserved 2-2 draw.

The game started just how you would expect. Bayern dominated possession early, with Juventus looking to break in behind the defense. The home side accomplished that at around the 12 minute mark, as Paul Pogba intercepted a pass from Arturo Vidal and quickly played the ball out wide to Paolo Dybala, who whipped in a low cross to Mario Mandzukic. Fortunately for us, Mandzukic wasn't quite able to get on the end of it.

Immediately after, Bayern linked up beautifully on the right side, as Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski found themselves fairly free in front of Gigi Buffon. Lewandowski squared the ball to Müller, but the ball was just a bit behind him and he wasn't able to properly control the ball from 3 yards out. Unlucky.

The rest of the half saw very little in terms of clear chances for either side. That was until the 43rd minute, when an Arjen Robben cross found Douglas Costa on the far post. Costa did wonderfully to volley the ball back across to Müller who slotted the it into the net for the deserving opening goal!

Juventus tried to find the equalizer immediately and put immense pressure on Bayern to end the half. Dybala was presumably going to get a shot off from about 5 yards out, but a late challenge by Arturo Vidal saw the ball cleared out of the box. The Juve players screamed for a penalty, but Martin Atkinson's whistle stayed silent, much to the dismay of the home crowd. Shortly there after, Atkinson called for halftime with Bayern dominating possession (71%), and shots (8 to 2).

In the 55th minute, after Kimmich cleared the ball out of the box, Thiago flicked the ball beautifully past a defender and found Lewandowski up the field. He had Robben and Müller running alongside him, and it was the former who he picked out for a pass. Robben pulled his classic cut-in and shoot, leaving Buffon with no chance and upping Bayern's lead to 2-0.

Shortly thereafter, a seemingly unthreatening ball into out defense was not controlled properly by Kimmich and fell kindly to Mandzukic who found Dybala slicing through the defense. Dybala was able to easily slot the ball past Neuer for the 2-1. Not a good scene from Kimmich, who had been playing great up until that point. Two minutes later, Kimmich once again made a mistake that lead to a huge chance for Juventus. He was dispossessed and Mandzukic once again took the ball. This time, he headed up field with it with Dybala and only Alaba ahead of them. The former Bayern man found Cuadrado with a pass but Neuer made a great save to deny the Columbian a goal.

In the 75th minute, after the introduction of Medhi Benatia and Alvaro Morata, Juventus found the equalizer. Morata headed the ball across the box, and Stefan Sturaro beat Kimmich to the ball, slotting it in right under the bar.

It was a game of two almost diametrically opposed halves and sets up an extremely exciting second leg back at the Allianz Arena in March.