Nick Woltemade has now made history with Juventus.
The Newcastle United loan striker joining Darko Kovačević and Roberto Baggio.
Juventus now with three players to score in each of their first three major European appearances.
Nick Woltemade achieving this in the Europa League against NEC, Celta Vigo and now Rennes.
Juventus went ahead through Zeki Çelik after five minutes, Nick Woltemade with the assist.
Mousa Al-Taamari equalised and Boulaye Dia put Rennes ahead before half-time.
Up stepped Nick Woltemade though to level with a very coolly taken second-half penalty under huge pressure in front of the Juve fans.
The Newcastle United loan star was man of the match for Juventus and as well as his goal and assist, Big Nick linking up play so well as the Italian side created a host of chances. Very unlucky not to win the game as Jhon Lucumí’s late winner was ruled out for offside by VAR.
Nick Woltemade spoke to Sky Sport Italia after the match: *“It’s definitely very bitter [not to win], given how much we produced in the second half,. We deserved to win. It didn’t happen and now we have to recover and think about Lecce. I politely asked Kolo Muani if I could take the penalty and he told me to go ahead. It went well and I scored. At the end I would have liked to get a third. The most important thing is to play a good game. Tonight we played with the right spirit and we’ll carry on like that.”*
Great to see Nick Woltemade in such excellent European form, three goals and an assist from three Europa League starts.
Also very refreshing to hear Big Nick having the confidence to want to take that high pressure penalty, wanting to take the responsibility.
It has all been ridiculously over the top since his loan move (only last month!) as the Italian media have made the Newcastle United loan player a scapegoat for Juventus’ average start to the season, eighth in the table and only nine goals scored by Juve in seven league matches.
This Nick Woltemade criticism (blindly parroted by the UK media) especially ludicrous considering Big Nick hasn’t yet had a chance to start a Serie A match, only 125 minutes in sub appearances.
Big Nick the big target for blame and yet never having even started a league game yet, whilst as stated above, in all three Europa League matches when getting the chance to start he has scored, plus a vital assist as well last night.
Following the game, Nick Woltemade made man of the match for Juventus with the highest rating of 8/10 from Goal going to the Newcastle United loan star: ‘The undisputed protagonist for Juventus. He provided the assist for Celik’s opener just six minutes in and remained the focal point of the attack throughout. Under immense pressure, he converted the 67th-minute penalty to secure the draw for his side.’
Not such a great night for former Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly rated 5/10: ‘Utilised on the left of the defensive trio, Kelly provided some decent ball progression but was caught out of position during the build-up to Rennes’ first goal. He was substituted in the 80th minute as Juve moved to a more aggressive shape.’