MILAN, Oct 3: Manuel Locatelli scored late as Juventus managed a narrow 1-0 win over Torino in their Serie A derby on Saturday.
Locatelli scored four minutes from time but it was a disappointing performance from Juventus, whose struggles continued in the Italian league.
Juventus has only won three of its opening seven matches and sits eighth in the league. It is already seven points behind Serie A leader Napoli, which has played a match less.
Defending champion Inter Milan moved to within one point of Napoli after coming from behind to beat a talented Sassuolo side 2-1.
Juventus was looking to build on an impressive 1-0 win over Chelsea in the Champions League but it didn’t even have a shot on target in a mediocre first-half performance from Massimiliano Allegri’s side.
Torino got off to a very aggressive start in the Derby della Mole and had several chances to take the lead before halftime.
Juventus improved after the break and Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić made two important saves at the start of the second half to first keep out a powerful header from Alex Sandro and then deny substitute Juan Cuadrado too.
The Bianconeri clearly lacked firepower as they were still without the injured Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata. Allegri is hoping to have the two forwards back after the international break, for Juve’s next match against Roma on Oct. 17.
Just as it appeared the match was heading for a draw, Federico Chiesa rolled the ball across for Locatelli, who curled into the right side of the net.
It was a second Juventus goal for Locatelli, who also scored what was to prove the winner in Juve’s 3-2 win over Sampdoria in the previous round. (AP)
