Soccer-Juve recover from bizarre own goal to snatch late win

TURIN, Italy, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Juventus hit back to snatch a late 2-1 win at home to Sporting after gifting the Portuguese side an early lead with a bizarre own goal by Alex Sandro in their Champions League match on Wednesday.

Four days after their two-year unbeaten home run was ended by Lazio, Juve were in more trouble when goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved at foot of Gelson Martins but the ball hit Alex Sandro and went straight into the net.

Miralem Pjanic levelled with a superb free kick in the 29th minute and, just as Sporting seemed set to frustrate the hosts, Mario Mandzukic scored the winner with a superb diving header in the 84th minute.

The win left Juventus with six points from three games in Group D and Sporting with three. (Writing by Brian Homewood, editing by Pritha Sarkar)