Juventus draw, remain at Serie A summit
Juventus draw, remain at Serie A summit
Juventus were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw away to Catania.

Juventus: Juventus remain top of the Serie A table, despite drawing 1-1 with Catania in Serie A on Sunday at the Angelo Massimo.

Gonzalo Bergessio gave the home side the initiative midway through the first half, but Milos Krasic was on hand to salvage something for the Old Lady immediately after the interval to stay unbeaten after four games.

The match started in fluid fashion, as both sides came flying off the blocks looking to assert their authority on proceedings, with Alejandro Gomez's duel with Fabio Grosso down the left being a particularly captivating eye-opener.

Juventus also started the game with an interesting tactical change, as Antonio Conte opted to switch to a 4-1-4-1 system from his routine 4-2-4, with Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio all appearing from the offset.

Catania had begun the season inconsistently, with a 3-0 reverse at Genoa last Wednesday ending their previously unbeaten start, but the Sicilians seemed desperate to flush the defeat out of their system.

It was then fitting that the hosts would open the scoring in the match, as Bergessio made it 1-0 to Vincenzo Montella's men on 22 minutes, after meeting Gomez's tantalising low cross past Grosso and beating Giorgio Chiellini to sliding the ball past Gianluigi Buffon.

Juventus began to pile on the pressure on their opponents, as new recruits Arturo Vidal and Eljero Elia grew in stature as the game wore on, but failed to find the elusive breakthrough, despite showing promising endeavour on occasions.

However, just four minutes into the second half, a Bianconeri equaliser had come to the relief of Antonio Conte, thanks to the talents of winger Krasic and some lax goalkeeping from Mariano Andujar.

The Serb had powered a shot straight at goal from a central position, after collecting Vidal's probing pass, but the Argentine stopper poorly handled his effort and the ball nestled into the bottom-left corner.

Straight after, a Catania reply almost ensued from the right boot of Bergessio, but incredibly the ex-Saint-Etienne hitman failed to find the goal once more by blazing over from less than six yards out, although the chance was later ruled offside.

The game remained wide open as the final whistle came nearer, but Alessandro Del Piero will be kicking himself, after Krasic advanced to the byline and fizzed a pinpoint cross into the box, but the substitute's free header was horribly misguided.

There were chances galore in stoppage time, but Gomez and Vidal, two of the game's better players, blasted their respective opportunities over the bar, as Juventus remain top of the Serie A standings.

What's your reaction?

Comments

https://terka.info/assets/images/user-avatar-s.jpg

0 comment

Write the first comment for this!