Dejan Kulusevski Rescues Point For Juventus Against Verona

Forum 3 years ago

Dejan Kulusevski Rescues Point For Juventus Against Verona

Dejan Kulusevski came off the bench to rescue a point as champions Juventus, playing without Cristiano Ronaldo, were held to a third consecutive Serie A stalemate at home against Hellas Verona on Sunday.

Portuguese forward Ronaldo remains absent after testing positive for coronavirus with Juventus preparing for next week’s Champions League tie against Barcelona in Turin.

“We had a too wait-and-see first half, we weren’t very aggressive with the midfielders but we had the most dangerous opportunities,” said Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo.

“But we don’t have to take a slap to react.”

Swedish forward Kulusevski grabbed the equaliser with 13 minutes to go after substitute Andrea Favilli put Verona ahead after an hour in Turin.

Pirlo’s side are fifth in Serie A, three points behind leaders AC Milan who host Roma on Monday.

Napoli moved up to second place, one point behind the leaders, after a 2-1 win over promoted Benevento, a match in which brothers Lorenzo and Roberto Insigne scored for rival clubs.

Nine-time reigning champions Juventus have stalled under new coach Pirlo, having also been held by promoted Crotone 1-1 last time out and 2-2 at Roma.

Argentina forward Paulo Dybala got his first start in three months but despite threatening could not find the winner.

Ebrima Colley had a goal ruled offside after quarter of an hour for Verona with goalkeeper Marco Silvestri denying Federico Bernardeschi early.

Juventus had their chances with Juan Cuadrado rattling the woodwork just before the break, with the Colombian then setting up Alvaro Morata who lobbed over Silvestri into the goal, only to be ruled offside.

Favilli came on after 55 minutes and five minutes later had the visitors ahead finishing off a Mattia Zaccagni cross.

Morata missed another chance on 72 minutes with Dybala hitting the crossbar five minutes later, before Kulusevski beat Silvestri from an angle.

The Verona goalkeeper pulled off two late saves from Dybala and a Morata header, as the eighth-placed visitors also remain without a win in three games.

Fiorentina got back winning 3-2 against Udinese thanks to a Gaetano Castrovilli brace either side of a Nikola Milenkovic header.

A pair of Stefano Okaka headers had revived Udinese hopes.