Juventus come back to seal draw at Sporting, keep hopes alive

Gonzalo Higuain scored a late equaliser as Juventus drew with Sporting Lisbon 1-1 Tuesday to remain ahead of the Portuguese club in Group D of the Champions League.

Higuain scored for the visitors with a flick shot from inside the area after a perfect pass by Juan Cuadrado in the 79th minute.

The draw kept the Italian club in second place with seven points, three in front of Sporting and three behind leaders Barcelona with two matches remaining.

Juventus, last year's finalist, had a chance of securing a knockout spot with a win, but now they still have to fight to earn one of the two qualifying berths from the group.

"I'm upset because we had a chance to secure advancement," Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. "Now we have to wait [for the next matches]. It's our own fault. We played an ugly first half. The second half was better."

In the other group match, Barcelona and Olympiakos drew 0-0 in Greece.

Sporting had opened the scoring with a low shot from inside the area by Brazilian midfielder Bruno Cesar in the 20th after Gelson Martins' strike was parried by Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Juventus were outplayed by the hosts in the first half but improved significantly in the second, creating most of the scoring chances at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.

Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio had to make some difficult saves to keep his team ahead, but there was nothing he could do when Higuain entered the area and sent a shot over his head to level the match.

Juventus had beaten Sporting 2-1 in Turin two weeks ago.

Sporting next host Olympiakos, while Juventus play Barcelona.