A derby is always a derby and Juve and Toro know this well.
Gol and controversy in that of Turin for a clear penalty for a foul by Chiellini on Belotti not given in the first half with the score at 0-0 and the equaliser by Ronaldo who had to wait over two minutes for the VAR with the usual Mazzoleni to show the right frame (?) to validate the goal. The fact is that with the equaliser Juve has caught up with Napoli in fourth place with the Azzurri currently ahead thanks to the victory at the San Paolo.
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The Turin derby ends 2-2: it's a point that is much more useful to Toro than to Juve. Chiesa gives Pirlo hope, then Sanabria breaks loose, who until 10 minutes from the end was dreaming of making history for the Granata with his brace on two uncertainties by Szczesny. Ronaldo puts his signature on the equaliser, a goal that allows him to join Romario at 772 in his career in the all-time scorers' ranking. Nicola and Pirlo provide surprises, especially in the midfield: the Granata launches Verdi in the new role of mezzala in the 3-5-2, the Bianconero places Danilo next to Bentancur and gives up Rabiot. For Toro, Vojvoda wins the duel with Murru and moves Ansaldi to the left wing, while Buongiorno replaces the injured Lyanco in the defensive trio with Izzo and Bremer. Up front, the Sanabria-Belotti tandem is confirmed.
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Juve is in an emergency in the back line, De Ligt-Chiellini is the obligatory pairing between Cuadrado and Alex Sandro, and on the wings Kulusevski and Chiesa are trying to supply Morata and Ronaldo with balls. The stands are obviously empty, but in the Primavera curve there is a maroon banner with a white heart in the center and the banners Torino ti ama ancora” and “Ma non resisto lontano da te”. The Bianconeri start is furious, exactly what Pirlo expected and hoped for: Morata makes a mistake alone in front of Sirigu when not even 120 seconds have passed, then Chiesa tests the maroon goalkeeper and shoots high from a good position. Toro responds with Mandragora, a shot just wide, and timidly protests for a contact between De Ligt and Belotti, but at 12' they are already behind: Morata draws Bremer and Izzo out of the area, Chiesa slips into the hole and pierces the Granata goalkeeper between the legs.
The episode shakes Nicola's team, the biggest chance falls on Rincon's left foot that is miraculously saved by Alex Sandro. Just before the half hour mark, the deserved equalizer: Szczesny's intervention on Mandragora's low shot is imperfect, on the loose ball Sanabria is the quickest to head it back into the net. And, after just 13 seconds of the second half, he even scores his personal brace. Kulusevski repeats the horror back pass from early March against Lazio, the Paraguayan beats Szczesny on his post and the Granata take the lead. Pirlo tries to shake his team up with the introductions of Bernardeschi and Ramsey, but it is always the usual CR7 who gets Juve back on their feet: before celebrating, however, the Portuguese has to wait a good minute of VAR to check for offside. It's an ending open to all outcomes, also because Bentancur hits the post, with a very slight but decisive deflection by Sirigu, and again Sanabria and Baselli force Szczesny to make great saves that partially redeem the errors on the two goals by the Granata, but after four minutes of injury time it ends 2-2. with a final episode of fair play, the warning taken away from Mandragora on Bentancur's report.
The Granata are moving away from the third-last place, with the defeat of Cagliari now the advantage over the Sardinians is two points and they still have to recover in the match with Lazio. On the other side, however, Pirlo continues his path in fits and starts: for the Bianconeri, now, it is really time to start looking back: the recovery on Wednesday against Napoli turns into a real Champions play-off.
Article published on 3 April 2021 - 21:50
