MILAN, Feb 28: Injury-hit Juventus was held at Hellas Verona to 1-1 as its hopes of a record-extending 10th successive Serie A title took a blow.
Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock early in the second half but Antonín Barák leveled for Verona, which also hit the woodwork twice.
Third-placed Juventus missed the chance to close in on the top two.
It was seven points below Serie A leader Inter Milan and three behind AC Milan. Verona remained ninth.
Both sides went close early on. Davide Faraoni’s header was turned onto the right post by Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny less than 10 minutes in.
Juventus got the breakthrough four minutes after the break when Federico Chiesa drew defenders and rolled across the area for Ronaldo to drill into the far bottom corner.
Verona upped the pressure and it paid off in the 77th. Darko Lazovic floated in a cross from the left for Barak to head in.
And the home side almost scored the winner five minutes from time but Szczesny managed to tip Lazovic’s strike onto the crossbar.
Misery compounded
Lazio’s miserable week was compounded as it missed a penalty in losing at Bologna 2-0.
Lazio was hoping to bounce back from Tuesday’s 4-1 defeat at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
It looked set to take the lead in the 17th after Nicolás Domínguez fouled Joaquín Correa in the penalty area but Ciro Immobile’s spot kick was saved by Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.
The home side took the lead two minutes later. Riccardo Orsolini’s shot was parried by Pepe Reina but Ibrahima Mbaye tapped in the rebound.
Nicola Sansone sealed the result in the 64th by finishing off a well-worked team move. Lazio remained sixth, a point below the top four.
Comeback
Parma fumbled a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 for the second successive week, this time against Spezia.
Just like last weekend against Udinese, Parma led 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals from Yann Karamoh and Hernani.
But Emmanuel Gyasi scored twice in the second period to rescue a point for Spezia.
Parma was second from the bottom, five points from safety. Spezia was 10 points above the relegation zone. (AP)
