NEC's Europa League Opener: Defeated 5-0 by Juventus

NEC’s return to European competition lasted 90 punishing minutes in Turin. Dick Schreuder’s side were taken apart by a clinical Juventus, who ran out 5-0 winners and could easily have had more.

It began chaotically for the visitors, and it never really settled.

With first-choice goalkeeper Gonzalo Crettaz suspended, Nikolas Polster was thrown in from the start. In front of him, Schreuder went with experience: Tjaronn Chery, Dusan Tadic and Bryan Linssen all in the XI, hoping to bring some control and guile to a hostile night in Italy. For Juventus, Teun Koopmeiners started on the bench.

The warning signs flashed almost immediately.

After just three minutes, Federico Gatti thought he had put Juventus ahead, only for his effort to be ruled out for a foul on Polster. NEC escaped, briefly. The reprieve lasted only a few moments.

Nicolás González then tore through the NEC back line, latching onto a ball in behind. Polster charged out, misjudged everything and completely missed the ball. González simply rolled it into the empty net for 1-0. From there, the tone of the evening was set.

Juventus sensed weakness and tightened the grip.

Polster did manage one strong stop, tipping away a close-range header from Nick Woltemade, but NEC’s stand-in keeper was soon beaten again in spectacular fashion. Kerim Alajbegovic stepped up from distance and unleashed a thunderous strike that flew past Polster for 2-0, a goal that underlined the gulf in confidence and quality.

The pressure finally broke NEC’s resistance again from the spot. Almugera Kabar clipped González in the area, the referee pointed to the spot, and Woltemade calmly converted for 3-0. Any lingering notion of a contest disappeared with that finish.

In the middle of Juventus’ first-half surge, Schreuder suffered another setback. Clement Bischoff pulled up with a hamstring problem and had to come off, with Dennis Geiger introduced earlier than planned.

To NEC’s credit, they did not completely fold before the interval. They pieced together a handful of chances, enough to at least ask a few questions of Kamil Grabara. Noé Lebreton forced the Juventus goalkeeper into action, Kabar also saw an effort saved, and Linssen fired over from a promising position. Half-chances, nothing more, but they hinted at what might have been on a calmer night.

After the break, the tempo dropped. Juventus were satisfied, the job effectively done. They controlled territory and possession without overextending, while NEC struggled to find any real incision. Geiger tried his luck from long range, but that was as close as the visitors came to troubling the Italian side in the second half.

Then, late on, the scoreline turned ugly.

In the final quarter of an hour, Randal Kolo Muani came to life and ripped away any remaining dignity NEC were clinging to. First, he drove to the byline and cut the ball back perfectly for Zeki Çelik, who arrived to sweep home for 4-0. NEC’s defenders could only watch as the white shirts celebrated again.

Moments later, Kolo Muani took centre stage himself. Slipped through on goal, he rounded the advancing Polster with ease and tapped in Juventus’ fifth. No offside flag, no VAR rescue. Just another harsh reminder of the level NEC are trying to reach.

The whistle eventually came as a relief. For NEC, it closes a bruising opening chapter to their Europa League campaign. The question now is simple: can they turn this heavy lesson in Turin into fuel for the rest of their European journey, or will this night linger longer than they can afford?