Juventus fall three points behind Milan

Juventus: Juventus missed a chance to make up ground on table-toppers AC Milan as they were held to a 1-1 draw with Chievo in their Serie A clash at Juventus Stadium.

In an open and entertaining game, Paolo De Ceglie opened the scoring in the first half, but Boukary Drame struck with a quarter of an hour to go to peg the hosts back and deny them a crucial three points in their chase for the title.

Despite a strong start by Juve it was the visitors who threatened first, Paolo Sammarco forcing Gianluigi Buffon into an early save with a strong header.

However, it was soon all one-way traffic for the hosts, and their pressure was rewarded with the opener after 18 minutes. Andrea Pirlo's free kick took a flick off Giorgio Chiellini and bounced off the post into the path of De Ceglie, who made no mistake from a few yards out.

The match was flowing from end to end, with Chievo showing some encouraging signs on the counter attack. Juventus always looked the stronger though, with Emanuele Giaccherini at the centre of things in the attacking third.

The midfielder first teed up Simone Padoin for a long range drive that was tipped away at full stretch by Stefano Sorrentino, before scuffing a volley of his own just wide after a delightful long ball by Leonardo Bonucci.

At the other end of the pitch, Sammarco sent a volley just over the bar as Chievo fired a warning shot heading into the interval.

Nine minutes after the restart, Buffon was called into action once more to parry Francesco Acerbi's long range free kick.

The hosts fired back soon after, with Alessandro Matri teeing up Padoin on the edge of the box for a shot that was just touched wide by the outstretched leg of Sorrentino.

The game was by no means won, and Chievo went close again when a header by substitute Davide Moscardelli was planted just wide of Buffon's far post.

Moscardelli would make a far more decisive contribution in the 76th minute, cutting the ball back towards Drame, whose low drive beat Buffon and was diverted by Bonucci en route to the back of the net.

Juventus turned up the pressure as the game neared its end, and they nearly snatched a winner with a long range strike by Pirlo in injury time, but Sorrentino did excellently to tip it away and send his side home with a well-earned point.

The result sees Juventus remain three points behind Milan at the Serie A summit, though they still hold a game in hand. Chievo, meanwhile, move to ninth place with 34 points.

Posted in: news