TURIN, Feb 19: Torino captain Andrea Belotti scored to give his team a 1-1 draw at Juventus in a hard-fought Turin derby in Serie A on Friday.
The Italy forward created space for himself by slipping away from a defender and volleyed home Josip Brekalo’s cross from the left in the 62nd minute, canceling out Matthijs de Ligt’s first-half goal for the home side.
Juve’s unbeaten run stretched to 12 games, but Champions League qualification remains uncertain for Massimiliano Allegri’s team after its second consecutive draw. Atalanta is just three points behind with two more games to play. The top four qualify for Europe’s premier competition.
Torino made the better start and dominated the first 10 minutes before Adrien Rabiot had the best chance on a counterattack at the other end. The French midfielder shot just wide of the far post when he only had goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić to beat.
De Ligt then scored in the 13th when he beat Milinković-Savić with a header at the near post from a corner. It was the Dutch defender’s second league goal of the season.
The goal provided encouragement for Juve to push for more. Paolo Dybala and Dušan Vlahović both had chances before Belotti tried to force a response at the other end.
It was Belotti’s first start since Nov. 28 after recovering from injury.
Dybala went off early in the second half after signaling a problem to the Juve coaching staff after he had tried shooting from around 30 meters. American Weston McKennie came on for the Argentine star.
The visitors remained dangerous, however, and Belotti’s equalizer was far from undeserved. (AP)
