Late Ronaldo header rescues point for Juventus in derby clash against Torino

Posted Saturday, May 04, 2019 by PA

Torino’s long wait for an away victory against derby rivals Juventus goes on after Cristiano Ronaldo’s late header rescued a 1-1 draw for the Serie A champions.

It looked like Sasa Lukic’s 18th-minute strike would see Torino break their duck, having not managed to defeat the Bianconeri on their own turf since a 2-1 success at the old Stadio delle Alpi in 1995.

However, Ronaldo powered home a header with six minutes remaining to deny them and earn Juventus a point.

The point kept Torino in sixth place in the table and means they are still in the hunt for a Champions League place, being two points behind fourth-placed Atalanta.

Torino survived an early penalty scare when Ronaldo chased down a long ball forward and seemed to get there just ahead of Salvatore Sirigu. However, the referee correctly decided that the goalkeeper had got hands on the ball.

At the other end, Wojciech Szczesny made a block by his near post to deny Alex Berenguer but there was little he could do shortly afterwards to prevent Torino from taking the lead.

A horrendous error by Miralem Pjanic in midfield gifted the ball to Lukic and he kept his composure as he approached Szczesny’s goal before sliding the ball confidently past the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner of the net.

The goal seemed to spring the champions into life and they were almost level immediately but Sirigu parried away Blaise Matuidi’s volley.

An errant effort from Ronaldo left the Portuguese visibly irritated and putting a second shot from long range into the stands did little to improve his mood.

Ronaldo eventually found his range just before half time but Sirigu easily smothered the strike.

Ronaldo threatened again at the start of the second half when he glanced a header just wide from Pjanic’s corner.

A weaving run from Leonardo Spinazzola took him past three Torino defenders but his shot skidded wide.

It looked like Torino had survived a difficult period either side of the break and they almost doubled their lead after 76 minutes when a rare attack saw Lukic flash a dangerous ball across the six-yard box and Andrea Belotti was inches away from touching the ball in as his slid in.

However, with six minutes remaining, Ronaldo got between two defenders and powered a trademark header past Sirigu from the edge of the six-yard box, perfectly meeting Spinazzola’s cross from the left.