Juventus were forced to come from behind twice in order to claim a 2-2 draw away to Hellas Verona, ultimately conceding more ground to rivals Inter in the Serie A title race with a fourth winless match in a row.The Old Lady arrived here hopeful a match-up against an opponent they had brushed aside the last four meetings ‘to nil’ would provide an easy opportunity to end a winless run that has derailed their title charge – that certainly wouldn’t be the case. A bullish Verona raced into an 11th-minute lead courtesy of a thunderous volley from Michael Folorunsho, which was put on a plate for the attacker by a weak clearance and eventually nestled in the top left corner of Wojciech Szczęsny’s goal.
Still, Massimiliano Allegri’s side was laced with quality and that early setback proved no issue. They were kept out for all of 28 minutes, when the equaliser arrived from the penalty spot. There was some confusion at first as the players on the field seemed to not know what it was given for, though replays showed Jackson Tchatchoua to have accidentally blocked a Filip Kostić shot with his hand in the box. Dušan Vlahović stepped up and blasted in the resulting spot-kick to bring about the first Juventus away fixture since September in which both teams have scored.
The interval allowed momentum to shift back in favour of the Yellow and Blues, who quickly retook the lead. Under pressure Tomáš Suslov picked out Tijjani Noslin making a smart run to slot his first goal since his January transfer from Fortuna Sittard past the feet of Szczęsny. However, Marco Baroni was forced to watch his side’s hard work undone again instantly as Juve were gifted the opportunity to hit back. With the home defence all over the place, Manuel Locatelli’s cross arrived at the feet of Adrien Rabiot, who had plenty of time to set himself and pick out the bottom right corner.
As the match hung in the balance, nobody in the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi were any wiser as to what the final outcome would be. Juventus looked the more threatening of the two as the closing stages approached, though in truth Lorenzo Montipò was given little work to do in order to keep things level. Federico Chiesa came closest when he curled over the crossbar late on, but in the end the Bianconeri were forced to settle for a point – one that allows Inter the chance to move 12 points out in front at the top of Serie A, and also AC Milan the opportunity to leapfrog Allegri’s men into second place.Ngonge saves Osimhen-less champs in the nick of timeSERIE AFridayTorino – Lecce 2-0 (0-0)/Bellanova 50, Zapata 81/Inter – Salernitana 4-0 (3-0)/Thuram 17, Martinez 19, Dumfries 40, Arnautovic 90/SaturdayNapoli – Genoa 1-1 (0-0)/Ngonge 90 – Frendrup 47/Verona – Juventus 2-2 (1-0)/Folorunsho 11, Noslin 52 – Vlahovic 28 pen, Rabiot 56/22.45: (1.35) Atalanta (5.30) Sassuolo (8.00)Sunday14.30: (2.40) Lazio (3.20) Bologna (3.40)17.00: (1.95) Udinese (3.45) Cagliari (4.00)17.00: (3.70) Empoli (3.45) Fiorentina (2.15)20.00: (3.90) Frosinone (3.50) Roma (1.95)22.45: (4.70) Monza (3.50) Milan (1.80)***odds are subject to change