Juventus missed the chance to consolidate their lead at the top of Serie A as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Genoa on Saturday.
Juve, who were booed at the final whistle, remain unbeaten after seven games, but they have drawn four of those and four teams could have realistically overtaken them yesterday.
Alessandro Matri twice gave Juve the lead, but Marco Rossi and then Andrea Caracciolo, five minutes from time, earned the visitors a valuable point.
Photo: Reuters
The result will cast doubts over Juve’s title chances after they showed once again an inability to close out matches.
Coach Antonio Conte was not too disappointed with the result and said the team still has a long way to go.
“We knew Genoa have quality, we tried to dictate the game, maybe we conceded more chances than in other games,” he said. “We needed to concentrate more because five minutes from time the game seemed over. The positive is the zero defeats, I would have perhaps preferred winning two and losing two of the four draws. Our path is long, we’ve only just started and we know we have to keep our feet on the ground, we know we have to improve a lot.”
They were off to a flying start, taking the lead after just six minutes.
Andrea Pirlo took a quick corner to Claudio Marchisio on the edge of the box and his shot was diverted in by Matri.
Genoa’s excellently created equalizer came on 31 minutes as Bosko Jankovic took out two defenders with a slide rule pass down the left and Alexander Merkel had time to look up and pick out Rossi at the back post, who sent a downward header bouncing past goalkeeper Marco Storari.
Juve went ahead with a another well-crafted goal as Pirlo created space for Matri by running over Mirko Vucinic’s pass, taking Dario Dainelli out of the center and leaving his teammate space to slot home his second.
Merkel, who was having a stunning game, flicked a shot just past the post and hit the bar with a header as Genoa continued to create chances.
Juventus looked the more likely to score, but five minutes from time Juraj Kucka rose above Girogio Chiellini to win a back-post header and Caracciolo got across Andrea Barzagli to poke home the ball from close range.
The referee signaled six minutes of injury time, but it was Genoa who came closest to snatching a winner only for Storari to make a diving save to deny Miguel Veloso.
Earlier, Fiorentina coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent off and jeered by his own fans as his side were held to a 2-2 draw by his former club Catania.
It was la Viola’s fourth match in a row without victory and kept them a point behind their visitors in an increasingly congested Serie A table.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care