Manchester United forced a dramatic turn of events Wednesday against Juventus, scoring twice in the final five minutes of regular time to win 2-1 in Turin.
Juan Mata’s curling free-kick in the 86th minute canceled out Cristiano Ronaldo’s spectacular volley earlier in the second half, and an own goal condemned the Bianconeri to an unexpected defeat.
United manager Jose Mourinho angered the home supporters when he put his hand to his ear after the final whistle, an apparent response to repeated insults from the partisan crowd.
The last-minute theatrics changed the mood entirely at the Allianz Stadium, where Juventus threw away the chance to book a place in the knockout stages and win Group H.
“This defeat has to serve as a lesson,” defender Giorgio Chiellini told UEFA.com. “And if we want to go to Madrid in June, we have to grow.”
Ronaldo gave the Bianconeri a 1-0 lead midway through the second half when he swung through Leonardo Bonucci’s arching long ball. It was Ronaldo’s first in the Champions League with Juventus.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side peppered United’s goal throughout the contest, firing 23 shots to the visitors’ nine.
Allegri threw on a third defender in Andrea Barzagli in the hopes of closing out the match, but Mourinho’s changes made a bigger impact. Mata replaced Ander Herrera shortly before equalizing, and Marouane Fellaini, who came on for Alexis Sanchez, redirected the free-kick that led to Bonucci’s own goal.
The goals condemned Juventus to their first defeat of the season in all competitions and their first loss at home in the Champions League since 2009.
Juventus still remain in first place with nine points, while United moved ahead of Valencia into second with seven points.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Eli Manning has a little something left in the tank.
The embattled New York Giants quarterback led the game-winning touchdown drive in a 27-23 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.
Manning hit Sterling Shepard for the decisive score in the final minute. It allowed the Giants to end a five-game skid, and perhaps extended Manning’s run as the Giants’ starting quarterback, a job he has held since midway through the 2004 season. He was forced to sit out a single game last season.
When
Opponent
Time left
2005
Broncos
0:05
2011
Patriots
0:15
2015
49ers
0:21
Super Bowl XLII
Patriots
0:35
Monday
49ers
0:53
It was the 36th game-winning drive of Manning’s career, but just his second in the past two seasons. He also did it last year against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Only Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger (40 each) have had more game-winning drives since 2004.
“It doesn’t get old,” Manning said. “It’s fun. It’s fun playing in those games, and having a two-minute drive to win it. Those are the situations you want to be in. You want to have a chance. Obviously, you’d love to have a two-score lead with a little time and run it out or whatnot, but you prepare and practice for those two-minute drives to go win football games.
“To come through is exciting. And the team needs that. The defense needs that, to know that we can do that; offense, we needed that for ourselves, saying, ‘Hey, we can win.’ If we get close in games, we can go win football games. And we just had to do it.”
This one came just in time.
Monday night might have been Manning’s last stand. He was struggling. So were the Giants (2-7). Had Manning played poorly, his starting job was likely in jeopardy. Coach Pat Shurmur would only guarantee publicly that Manning would start against the 49ers. Nothing more.
Eli Manning answered his critics with three touchdowns and a comeback victory vs. the the 49ers. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
When asked about his future, Manning said: “I am happy to be playing football.”
This kind of performance, especially late in the game, was meaningful for Manning and the Giants. They have heard the buzz throughout a woeful first half of the season.
“It frustrates me when people go at him. I see that from the media, but you wouldn’t want a better guy with the ball in his hands,” Shepard said. “You saw what he did on that last drive. When we need him, he’s going to come through for us.”
“[Told him] the same thing I always tell him. ‘Take me home, 10,'” said wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who caught a pair of touchdown passes in the contest.
play
1:13
Odell Beckham Jr. hauls in a pair of touchdowns in the Giants’ win vs. the 49ers, with one coming immediately after he nearly made an insane catch.
The game-winner came when Manning hit Shepard just past the goal line near the pylon. Shepard made a leaping catch with 53 seconds remaining to put the Giants ahead.
It was a vintage Manning drive reminiscent of the prime of his career.
“After we went and scored, I came back on the sideline and was like, ‘Man, you been doing this since I was like 12,'” rookie running back Saquon Barkley said. “That’s Eli. When he’s in those moments, he’s a heck of a player.
“When you’re around him you know why. When you’re young and you’re watching TV you’re like, ‘Wow. He’s just making those plays.’ But his craft that he works on. Such a smart player. Such a hard worker — on and off the field. In these positions he just thrives.”
Manning went 6-of-9 for 69 yards and a touchdown on the final drive. It came in his most productive game of the season, and put to rest a long two weeks in which he faced constant questions about his future.
“It’s more just getting asked about it,” Manning said. “It doesn’t bother me what people say, but just having to answer questions about it. You wanna go out there and play football. That’s what I wanna do. I wanna be with my team and prepare and practice and go play football. And obviously get wins and feel good about what we’re doing.”
Manning had eight touchdown passes in his first eight games. He had three on Monday night. A slight glimpse of light appeared, even if only for a second, fresh off the bye week.
Manning finished 19-of-31 passing for 188 yards, including the much-needed game-winner.
“It was just time. It was just time,” Beckham said. “Like I said, we’ve been in many close games, so we knew how to lose them, and we each had to find a way to win it, and we did.”
Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United pulled a seemingly impossible result out of the bag on Wednesday, scoring twice in the final five minutes to turn an impending 1-0 defeat to Juventus into a 2-1 win in Turin.
Mourinho was clearly pleased. The Portuguese boss took to the pitch after the full-time whistle, cupping his ear to the Bianconeri fans in a gesture which he says was a response to abuse he received throughout the game.
“I was insulted for 90 minutes,” Mourinho said after the game, via the Guardian’s Barney Ronay. “I do my work and nothing more. At the end I didn’t insult anyone, I just did the gesture that I wanted to hear them more. I wouldn’t do it again. But I came here as a professional that does his work and people insulted my family, this is why I reacted this way. I don’t want to think about it.”
He added, according to The Telegraph’s James Ducker: “I probably shouldn’t have done it, and with a cool head I wouldn’t have done it, but with my family insulted, including my Inter family, I reacted like this.”
Admitting that his actions weren’t the wisest idea is likely a reaction to the situation Mourinho has found himself in over the past few weeks. He was the subject of an investigation after comments allegedly made following United’s win over Newcastle United. Mourinho has since been cleared, though the FA is appealing the decision.
United’s late comeback on Wednesday puts them second to Juve in Group H, two points behind the Italian champions and two ahead of Valencia in third.
PHILADEPHIA — The Dallas Cowboys’ storylines entering Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles weren’t exactly positive.
The list included: a coach’s job security, a quarterback struggling to make plays, an offensive coordinator perhaps on his last chance and a defense left wobbly after its previous game. All in all, it added up to a season on the line.
But the Cowboys left Lincoln Financial Field with a 27-20 victory that seemed improbable after losing their first four road games of the season, and they find themselves alive and breathing if not entirely well just yet.
“When you’re feeling low and you’re seeing the Grim Reaper and then come in and have your team perform the way these guys did, I promise you it’s a special feeling,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “I won’t need any wings on that airplane getting back to Dallas.”
They left Philly with a win after Jason Garrett rallied a young team that had been rattled and a coaching staff that had been questioned.
They left after Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes in a road game for the first time this season.
Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 151 yards and a touchdown and had six receptions for 36 yards and a score. AP Photo/Matt Slocum
They left after coordinator Scott Linehan managed the offense as well as it had been managed all year.
They left after the defense did just enough with Leighton Vander Esch book-ending a first-quarter interception with a huge, fourth-quarter tackle that preceded Jeff Heath’s fourth-down stop of Zach Ertz with 1:09 to play.
“I don’t know that I learned anything new (about his team),” Garrett said. “You try to build a team of guys who love football, who are mentally tough and I think those things get revealed when you have to go through some adversity of the course of the season.
“I thought they did a great job coming back after the (Tennessee) game just getting back to work, not blinking. Just going back to work and understanding the importance of what this next opponent is and playing 60 minutes. Thought we did a better job of that in this game than we have in the last few games. Dealing with the adversities of the game and keep playing. Dealing with the successes of the game and keep playing.”
At times early in the game, Prescott was bad. He held on to the ball too long, leading to sacks — including a 13-yard sack in the second quarter.
At times, Prescott was brilliant, such as at the end of the first half, when he connected on five passes for 79 yards and sneaked in from a yard out with 19 seconds left for the Cowboys’ first touchdown.
When the Cowboys were at their best in 2016, they rode then-rookies Prescott and Elliott. Now almost grizzled veterans in their third year, Prescott was efficient Sunday, and Elliott was explosive.
Prescott completed 26 of 36 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown pass. Elliott finished with 151 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown run and touchdown reception.
“We needed it,” Elliott said. “It was absolutely mandatory that we went and got this win. We want to keep our hopes up for winning this division and making the playoffs. So we had to go out there and win.”
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