Cristiano Ronaldo may have been sent off half an hour into Juventus' visit to Valencia, but the Serie A champions were able to extract the three points from the Mestalla thanks to two Miralem Pjanic penalties.
The first big chance of the match fell to Sami Khedira in the 17th minute, with the ball played to the German around the penalty spot and with no players within tackling distance, but he fired it high into the Valencian sky to let the LaLiga Santander side off the hook.
Juventus knocked on the door again just four minutes later and Marcelino's team once again survived miraculously.
On this occasion, a ball into the box was missed by former Juve goalkeeper Neto, who then got in the way of Federico Bernardeschi's shot, only to then spill the ball once more.
It dropped to Blaise Matuidi, but Jeison Murillo got his body in the way to spare his goalkeeper's blushes.
Controversy then shook the Mestalla in the 29th minute when Ronaldo was given his marching orders after a clash a Murillo, with the home side massively improving after the Portuguese tearfully left the pitch.
However, just when Valencia seemed to be in the ascendancy against the 10 men from Turin, Dani Parejo gave away a clumsy penalty on Bernardeschi, one which Pjanic converted in the 44th minute.
Then, in the fourth minute of the second period, referee Felix Brych awarded the visitors another penalty, this time penalising Murillo for a tussle with Leonardo Bonucci at a corner.
In the absence of Ronaldo, Pjanic took this one too and once again he beat Neto.
Valencia were left with a mountain to climb against one of the favourites to win the whole competition, even if they did have a man advantage.
Carlos Soler came close with a long-range effort and Rodrigo Moreno headed an effort over the bar, but Los Che didn't get one back.
Brych awarded yet another spot kick in stoppage time, but Neto denied Parejo from the spot, to keep a clean sheet on a night when it all threatened to go wrong for Juventus.
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