Crotone's Simy beats Juventus with stunning bicycle kick

April 18 (UPI) -- Nigerian striker Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo used a bicycle kick to help Crotone tie Juventus 1-1 Wednesday at Stadio Ezio Scida in Crotone, Italy.

Simy pulled off the daring maneuver in the 65th minute of the Serie A contest. Juventus held a 1-0 lead before the equalizing strike.

Juventus pulled ahead in the 16th minute of the match. Forward Douglas Costa dribbled on the left side of the box, before firing a powerful cross in toward the net. Defender Alex Sandro jumped up at the near post, beating the Crotone defense to the ball. He flicked on a header into the far post netting. The shot beat Crotone keeper Alex Cordaz.

The Old Lady carried the 1-0 lead through the halftime whistle, before Simy could plot his revenge. Midfielder Andrea Barberis headed a cross back toward the middle of the box to begin the play. Marcello Trotta attempted a wild rip at the pass from Barberis, but came up empty with his left boot.

The ball then bounced again toward Simy. The forward jumped into the air -- with his back to the goal -- and kicked up his right foot, beating Wojciech Szczesny to the near post.

"We lacked fluidity. We knew this tonight would be complicated and it was because in these games we need to stay focused for 90 minutes," Costa said, according to Juventus.com.

"Now we focus on Napoli which will be a great match with two brilliant teams fighting to win and we certainly want to. I'm happy for the assist, but today we needed three points which didn't happen."