Nothing to separate Torino and Juventus in forgettable Turin derby
Winless on the road since beating Lecce at the back end of January, Juventus came close to the game’s opening goal after only seven minutes, as top-scorer Dusan Vlahovic saw his fearsome close-range strike cannon back off the post. Manuel Locatelli fired an equally glorious opportunity to break the deadlock over the top of the bar soon after, as the visitors continued to dominate in front of goal in Turin.
Vlahovic again came close to his 16th league goal of the season shortly after the half-hour mark, but Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was up to the challenge as he bravely raced off his goalline to deny his international teammate, leaving the contest goalless at the end of the first half.
Hoping to avenge their defeat from October's reverse fixture, Torino had the ball in the back of the net almost immediately from the restart via the boot of Duvan Zapata.
However, the Colombian’s effort was ruled out for an unlawful challenge in the build-up, much to the frustration of the home faithful. Wojciech Szczesny was then called into his first action of the game as he quickly dropped to the ground to palm Antonio Sanabria’s header away to safety.
With time running out for either side to find a late winner, both ends of the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino were treated to an end-to-end moment of goalmouth action.
First, Szczesny pulled off a wonderful save to deny Mergim Vojvoda before second-half substitute Kenan Yıldız was denied only his second-ever goal for the Bianconeri in Serie A by the outstretched arm of Milinkovic-Savic.
That would ultimately turn out to be the final action of the game, as a less-than-ideal result for their hopes of playing European football next season leaves Torino five points adrift of sixth-placed Atalanta having played two games more. Meanwhile, Juventus remain eight clear inside the top-four but stuck in a rut having scored just once across their last four league matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino)
