Shine taken off Oscar’s night

Chelsea 2 Juventus 2

The resilience that steered them to victory in Munich last May, however, was missing as they allowed Juventus to force their way back into the game, prompting Roberto Di Matteo to admit his side were guilty of squandering the chance to make a winning start to their campaign.

Oscar’s performance was undeniably a high, with the Brazil international’s 33rd-minute second goal, scored two minutes after his first, in particular highlighting why the Stamford Bridge paid £25 million for the player this summer.

But defensive lapses contributed to both Juventus’s goal, in particular Fabio Quagliarella’s equaliser 10 minutes from time that contributed to a feeling of regret for Di Matteo.

“We found ourselves in a great position to win the game and only got a draw, but we were playing against a quality side with a lot of got players,” said the Chelsea manager.

“We probably made a couple of mistakes on the goals but there was good movement and quality finishes as well.”

At least the manager could draw full satisfaction from his decision to start with Oscar.

Frail, sandwiched between the powerhouses of Juventus’ back four and Chelsea’s holding midfielders Frank Lampard and John Obi Mikel, the Brazilian at times looked as though he might be overwhelmed, consumed by an attritional contest.

In this case, however, looks were very much deceiving, and Di Matteo added: “We were waiting for the right game for him and it was wonderful to watch him. He is a fantastic player.”

Ultimately, neither side could complain about a point but having been in control of the game — and insistent they had a valid claim for a second-half penalty rejected — Chelsea will view this as an opportunity missed.

A 42-match unbeaten run in Serie A provided confirmation of the threat carried by the Italian champions, and if that wasn’t quite enough, the sight of Andrea Pirlo in midfield provided Chelsea’s English contingent of a painful reminder of the way the veteran had toyed with Roy Hodgson’s side during the Euro 2012 quarter-final before eliminating them with the most nerveless of penalties.

It didn’t help Chelsea’s cause that their defence was unable to deal with the most routine of long balls forward from Juve centre-back Andrea Barzagli in the 20th minute.

Had Claudio Marchisio’s first touch been better, it is unlikely Petr Cech would have had the opportunity to smother the chance.

A moment of quality or good fortune was required to break the impasse it seemed. And in the 31st minute, Chelsea conjured both.

With Oscar positioned in the middle of the three forward players assigned to support Fernando Torres, Eden Hazard was moved to the left and his early influence was less profound than it has been in recent weeks.

That was never likely to last though, and when the Belgium international collected Ashley Cole’s throw-in and turned sharply, creating space in front of the Juve box which allowed him to tee up Oscar. His shot took a deflection off Leonardo Bonucci that gave Gianluigi Buffon no chance.

If there was an element about of luck about Oscar’s opening goal, no such description could be applied to his second two minutes later.

Collecting a ball from Cole with his back to goal on the edge of the area, the Brazilian’s first touch took two Juve defenders out of the game and his second, a curling right shot on the turn, looped over Buffon and into the top corner.

Five minutes later they were back in contention through the hard-working Vidal, who beat Cech with a low shot after wrong-footing Lampard.

The visitors’s response set up the second half perfectly.

The number of opportunities suggested the final passage of the game would produce more drama that eventually came at Chelsea’s expense when, in the space of 60 seconds, Mata shot into the side netting before his defensive colleagues contrived to present Juventus with an 80th minute equaliser.

Initially Mikel was at fault for giving the ball away in his own half and the error was confounded when John Terry and David Luiz lost sense of each other’s position, creating a yawning gap for Quagliarella to run into before slipping the ball between Cech’s legs.

Subs for Chelsea: Bertrand for Ramires 68, Mata for Oscar 74.

Subs for Juventus: Quagliarella for Giovinco 75, Isla for Lichtsteiner 77, Matri for Vucinic 88.