Higuain, Juventus fire blanks in disappointing draw with Sevilla

Milan - Gonzalo Higuain, Paulo Dybala and Sami Khedira fired blanks as Sevilla held a dominant but wasteful Juventus to a scoreless draw in each side's Champions League opener in Turin on Wednesday.

Juventus welcomed the Europa League champion looking to stretch its 17-match unbeaten run at home in Europe with a win.

But despite dominating for long periods, Higuain's second-half header notably coming off Sergio Rico's crossbar, the Serie A champion was left frustrated by Jorge Sampaoli's side.

Sampaoli, who replaced current Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery over the summer, had promised attacking football this season. His men offered anything but in a game that, ultimately, went in their favour.

In the opening minutes Higuain's midfield interception allowed Dybala to send Khedira through on goal, but the German skewed his shot wide of Rico's far post. When Dybala produced some magic with a superb mid-air lob to set up Khedira again, the central midfielder fired straight at the onrushing Rico.

Higuain then chested down for Dybala, but the striker could only get a touch as Rico came out to close down the move.

Despite Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic sitting on the bench after hitting his maiden goal for Juve on his first start last weekend, Allegri resisted the temptation to shake up his midfield at half-time.

And initially, he looked to have made the right decision as Juve enjoyed another flurry of chances.

But Allegri finally buckled, replacing Kwadwo Asamoah with Pjanic with 22 minutes remaining.

Juve continued to dominate, but Higuain spurned another chance when he sent Khedira's cross wide of the upright and five minutes later Pjanic dragged his shot wide of the post.

Higuain, on 80 minutes, fired wide and in the final seconds frustration continued when Rico pulled off a great save down low to thwart Alex Sandro when the Brazilian sent a diving header towards the near post.