Juventus defeated Roma on penalties, following a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes, in front of 33,039 supporters at Gillette Stadium near Boston on a sunny Sunday afternoon to conclude both sides’ 2017 International Champions Cup fixtures.
Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring for the Bianconeri midway through the first half and Edin Dzeko equalised for the Giallorossi with a quarter of an hour to play to force penalties, with the defending Serie A champions winning the shootout 6-5.
Both sides struggled to find a rhythm in the opening minutes, due in part to the players taking some time to acclimate to the pitch, which consisted of a makeshift carpet of grass laid on top of artificial turf.
However, the game’s first scoring opportunity arrived after eight minutes when Gregoire Defrel’s cross from the right flank narrowly missed Edin Dzeko, who was open at the far post but couldn’t get on balance to head the ball past Bianconeri keeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Juventus took control of the match tempo after a quarter of an hour as they pushed higher up the pitch and tightened their marking.
Juan Cuadrado crossed for a wide open Mandzukic just after the 20-minute mark, but the Croatian’s sliding effort at the back post came too late to redirect the service.
Miralem Pjanic fired narrowly wide from just outside the box moments later, as the Bianconeri continued to knock on the door.
The defending Serie A champions finally broke through just before the half hour mark on a sequence that started with Alex Sandro finding space on the left wing to play a pass in behind the Roma back line.
Mandzukic, who timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap and reach the feed, ran past Giallorossi defenders Federico Fazio and Juan Jesus and then rounded Alisson before neatly slotting the ball into the back of the net.
Both sides managed to up the tempo after the break despite beginning the second half after having made a number of substitutions.
Four minutes into the second period, Paulo Dybala appeared to double the Bianconeri’s lead when he fired a shot past Alisson, after going clean through on the keeper off a pass by Gonzalo Higuain, though the linesman raised his flag to call the Argentine striker offside.
Seconds later, Roma went to the other end of the pitch and nearly equalised as Kevin Strootman’s effort hit the crossbar.
Juventus returned fire at the hour mark and forced Alisson to make two saves in a split-second span as Douglas Costa’s low drive toward the net from the right wing was parried by the goalkeeper, then Higuain fired the rebound back toward goal, but the Roma shot-stopper stood his ground and blocked the point blank effort.
The Giallorossi tied the game with a little more than a quarter of an hour left to play as Aleksandar Kolarov found time and space on the left side of the box to serve a driven pass into the heart of the penalty area, with Dzeko emerging in front of the net to poke the ball past keeper Carlo Pinsoglio, who had replaced Buffon 10 minutes prior.
Federico Bernardeschi, who made his Juventus debut when he came on for Mandzukic midway through the second half, smashed a shot into the side netting five minutes before full-time.
Douglas Costa’s freekick also sailed wide as the final seconds of the match ticked away, meaning that penalties would be needed to settle the contest.
Marco Tumminello, who entered the game for Diego Perotti with eight minutes remaining in the game, had his penalty saved by Pinsoglio. Juventus’ Stephan Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Bernardeschi, Sami Khedira, and Alex Sandro all converted their penalties, as did the Giallorossi’s Lorenzo Pellegrini, Juan Iturbe, and Cengiz Under.
Alex Sandro’s penalty served as the match-winner.
Roma, who earned victories in the Boston area against Liverpool and the Western Massachusetts Pioneers in recent years, lost in New England for the first time since 1972.
