Serie A leaders Juventus held to frustrating draw at home to Empoli
La Vecchia Signora dominated possession in the early stages but couldn’t quite find the opener, as Elia Caprile palmed away an ambitious Dušan Vlahović free-kick and Andrea Cambiaso strike - even if the second stop wasn’t completely convincing.
Their match was soon completely changed, though, as Arkadiusz Milik saw red for a lunging tackle on Alberto Cerri just 18 minutes into his fourth SA start of the season.
Gli Azzurri utilised their man advantage to make more of a mark on proceedings, with Nicolò Cambiaghi conjuring one venomous effort and a more delicate one to test Wojciech Szczęsny.
They also saw plenty of the ball but struggled to break down a Juventus side that had dropped deep and was willing to soak up pressure.
The hosts will have been waiting for their opportunity to pounce and it came seconds before the whistle was blown for HT when Fabio Miretti intercepted Emmanuel Gyasi’s lax pass, but he couldn’t capitalise and fired over the crossbar under pressure from Sebastian Walukiewicz.
Dušan Vlahović was never going to be as wasteful in his current goalscoring form. Just five minutes into the second period, Federico Gatti’s blocked header saw the ball drop invitingly for the striker to convert the fifth goal in his last three games.
Vlahović could have had an assist shortly after, but Cambiaso slipped at the vital moment.
Empoli had been crying out for some form of creativity and conviction, which arrived through substitute Tommasso Baldanzi, who collected Sebastiano Luperto’s pass and sent a pinpoint strike into the bottom corner.
Matteo Cancellieri had a brilliant chance to win it for the visitors after being played through by a wonderful Cambiaghi pass but was let down by his touch, as Juventus extended their unbeaten streak to 19 matches despite being a man down for so long - even if their seven-game winning run was brought to an end.
Having held SA’s table-toppers, Empoli are unbeaten in their two matches under Davide Nicola and are just one point from safety.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Weston McKennie (Juventus)
