Draw specialists Juventus held by derby rivals Torino in Serie A

Nikola Vlasic earned a point for Torino, who haven't beaten their city rivals for a decade, with a superb strike which crashed in off the post in stoppage time at the end of the first half. Thiago Motta's team remain unbeaten in Italy's top flight this season, but Saturday's draw was their 12th of the league campaign and left them three points away from the Champions League positions. Fifth-placed Juve have now drawn six of their last seven Serie A matches and have key clashes with Atalanta and AC Milan coming up next week.

The away side looked on their way to another win in what has long been a one-sided fixture in the eighth minute when Kenan Yildiz skipped past two Torino defenders and fizzed in a long-range opener, his sixth Juve goal of the season in all competitions. But Juventus were pegged back in a frantic evening at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino which finished with coaches Motta and Paolo Vanoli both being sent off following a pitchside scuffle 10 minutes after the break.

Motta, who responded to Vanoli exploding with rage at what he thought was a red-card-worthy foul on Yann Karamoh, will be suspended for Juve's match at title contenders Atalanta on Tuesday evening. That fixture is Juve's rescheduled game in hand due to their trip to Saudi Arabia to contest the Italian Super Cup at the start of the month, and Motta will likely still be without Dusan Vlahovic and Francisco Conceicao.

Later Sergio Conceicao makes his San Siro debut as AC Milan coach against struggling Cagliari after guiding his new club to victory in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. Conceicao has changed the atmosphere around Milan since replacing Paulo Fonseca earlier this month and is charged with re-igniting his new team's bid for Champions League qualification. Milan sit eighth after a dismal first half of the campaign which has left the seven-time European champions 17 points behind Napoli. Nikola Krstovic boosted Lecce's survival hopes with a brace in a 3-1 win at Empoli which moved Marco Giampaolo's team three points above the relegation zone.

 

January 11, 2025