MELBOURNE — Italian champion Juventus was beaten 4-3 on penalties by Australia’s Melbourne Victory in their International Champions Cup game here Saturday.
Young Spanish defender Carlos Blanco Moreno put the Turin giant ahead in the 58th minute with a spectacular long-range strike before Jai Ingham equalized for Victory seven minutes from time.
The game went to a penalty shootout with the scores level at full-time.
Emil Audero saved from Carl Valeri to give Juventus the early advantage in the shootout before home goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas saved attempts from Roman Macek and Stefano Padovan to give Victory the win.
“It was a decent workout for us. I’m happy with how our youngsters performed this evening,” Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri said.
Moreno, the 20-year-old central defender, looked to have given Juve victory with his stunning goal from near halfway after finding goalkeeper Thomas off his goal-line.
“I’m delighted with the goal I scored for the first team. I saw the goalkeeper off his line, tried my luck and it went in,” Moreno said.
But Ingham equalized after a series of intricate passes in the lead-up gave space to fire across Audero into the far corner of the net.
Juventus, which won a fifth consecutive Serie A championship this season, will face England’s Tottenham Hotspur in its second and final ICC match in Melbourne Tuesday.
Spain’s European Champions League finalist Atletico Madrid will play Spurs in the final game of the tournament Friday.
