Bologna’s veteran Brazilian forward Adailton scored an equalizer deep into injury-time to deny Juventus a return to the top of the Serie A table following a 1-1 draw in Turin.
The result left Juventus a point behind leaders Sampdoria, who beat champions Inter 1-0 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, AC Milan’s miserable start to the season continued as they needed goalkeeper Marco Storari to rescue a 0-0 draw for them at home to newly-promoted Bari.
They were booed off the San Siro pitch as they slumped to seven points behind Sampdoria after just two wins in six matches and just a solitary goal in their last five encounters.
Under-pressure Milan coach Leonardo said his side deserved their jeers.
“Bari played very, very well, while we struggled a lot,” Leonardo said. “At the end of the game, jeers, just like applause, are always deserved.”
Just as had been the case in their 0-0 draw at Livorno, Milan had Storari to thank for coming away with a point. He made a string of fine saves, denying Leonardo Bonucci, Honduran winger Edgar Alvarez, Emmanuel Rivas and Riccardo Meggiorini.
Argentine winger Rivas caused Milan problems and after one mazy run that saw him beat three defenders, including a nutmeg on Alessandro Nesta, he deserved a better finish than hurriedly snatching at his shot and blazing over the bar.
Milan, who were largely dominated, had some good chances of their own, but the best fell to the recalled Ronaldinho, whose effort looked headed for the top corner until Belgian goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet intervened.
In Turin, France forward David Trezeguet came close to a first-half hat-trick, before Bologna laid siege to the Juventus goal after the break to snatch a dramatic late share of the spoils.
Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara was furious with his team.
“[The goal] wasn’t Bologna’s only chance, we were naive and we took too much time to get into position at the back,” Ferrara said. “On their goal, no-one was there, we gave away too much. I brought in players who hadn’t played for a while and maybe we had a problem gelling. We need to manage the ball better when we have it and be less frenetic. We need to be more balanced.”
Trezeguet came close with a right-foot volley that Emiliano Viviano tipped around the post, before he tapped in on 24 minutes after Jonathan Zebina’s shot came back off Viviano and a defender.
The former Monaco man flashed a left-foot finish just past the upright, before Andrea Raggi had the ball in the net for Bologna in first-half injury-time, only for it to be chalked off for offside.
If Juve had looked comfortable before the break, they were anything but after it, with former striker Marco Di Vaio terrorizing their back-line.
He escaped to bear down one-on-one against Gianluigi Buffon, but put the ball wide. Moments later he got free again and rounded the Italy stopper, only to see Giorgi Chiellini get back to clear his shot off the line.
Buffon then came to the rescue to keep out a Giacomo Tedesco shot at full stretch, before Adailton thrashed the rebound over the bar.
Three minutes into injury-time, however, Tedesco sent a long, high cross into the box and Adailton arrived at the back post to stab a volley into the ground that bounced up and beyond Buffon’s despairing dive.
Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi salvaged AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri’s unbeaten league start in charge of the Giallorosso as his injury-time strike earned a 1-1 draw at Catania following Japan forward Takayuki Morimoto’s opener.
Slovakian midfielder Marek Hamsik eased the pressure on former Italy coach Roberto Donadoni as his brace gave Napoli a 2-1 home win over Siena.
In other games, Serie A top scorer Antonio Di Natale continued his hot streak, netting in Udinese’s 2-0 win over Genoa, while Atalanta climbed off the bottom of the table with a 1-1 draw at Chievo.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
Kawhi Leonard on Sunday scored 41 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals to lead the Los Angeles Clippers in a lopsided 115-96 victory at Minnesota. The 34-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion, matched the second-best road scoring effort of his career as the Clippers improved to 25-27. “Just being aggressive. My teammates trust me,” Leonard said. “Every moment when I touch the ball — assist, shooting the basketball or getting a rebound — I’m just trying to help the team win.” Leonard made three steals in a row at the start of the contest. “Just wanted to come out early in the