The derby of the city of Turin played on Saturday at the Olimpico di Torino ended with the local rivals sharing the points between them, as Kenan Yildiz scored for Juventus in the eighth minute and Nikola Vlasic equalized in the first-half stoppage time. Apart from the pair of lovely goals, the game was also marked with controversy, as both. coaches, Paolo Vanoli and Thiago Motta, got sent off in the second half.
The teams
Vanoli was without four players for this derby, with striker Duvan Zapata, midfiedlers Emirhan Ilkhan and Gvidas Gineitis, and defender Perr Schuurs, all absent with various injury issues.
Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was in goal, and the last line ahead of the Serbian goalkeeper was comprised of Mergim Vojvoda, Guillermo Maripan, Saul Coco and Borna Sosa. The midfield was also arranged in a flat line of four, as Samuele Ricci and Karol Linetty shared responsibilities in the middle of the park, flanked by Valentino Lazaro and Yann Karamoh. Up front, scorer Vlasic was joined by Che Adams.
Meanwhile, Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli was suspended through five yellow cards, and Motta couldn’t call upon the injured defenders Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal, as well as strikers Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik.
With Michele Di Grigorio between the posts, Pierre Kalulu and Federico Gatti formed the centre-back duo. Nicolo Savona started at right-back, while the left defensive flank was covered by midfielder-by-trade Weston McKennie. Kephren Thuram and Douglas Luiz paired up in the middle of the park, while the trio of Samuel Mbagula, Teun Koopmeiners and Yildiz supported Nico Gonzalez, usually a winger, playing as a makeshift striker.
Game recap
The first moment of note was a beautiful solo move from Yildiz which resulted in the eighth-minute opener. The 19-year-old Turkey international cut inside from the right and danced past several opponents before beating Milinkovic-Savic with a highly accurate low shot from just outside the box. While Torino’s defending left a bit to be desired in that moment, Yildiz still displayed mesmerizing skill to put his team ahead.
As the home side tried to fight back, Juventus almost doubled their lead on the counterattack on the stroke of 20 minutes. Gonzalez and Mbangula combined nicely and eventually the makeshift striker fired through Milinkovic-Savic’s legs from close range, putting the ball in the back of the net, but the linesman’s flag went swiftly up for offside.
But if Yildiz’s goal was great, Vlasic’s equalizer was arguably even better. The 45th minute had just expired when Karamoh broke through down the left wing and employed the Croatian on the edge of the box. Vlasic lifted the ball slightly with his right foot and smashed it on the volley with his left, leaving Di Grigorio unable to do anything but watch as it thundered off the post and into the net.
Torino appeared to have swung the flow of the game their way at the start of the second half, but Juventus then turned their game up and created a number of promising situations. Yildiz had two more attempts from outside the box, hitting one over the bar and forcing Milinkovic-Savic to make a good save with the other. Gonzalez probably came closer than anyone with a bouncing shot from the edge of six yards, but the Serbia international produced a great flying save to deny the Juve attacker. Substitute Andrea Cambiaso and Thuram also had a go at beating the Torino goalkeeper but had no more success than the rest of their team in the second half. Milinkovic-Savic ended the game with eight saves.
What should’ve been remembered as a high-quality football show between local rivals was marred by a conflict of their benches in the 55th minute. Clearly feeling the two head coaches had failed to keep their staff and players under control, referee Michael Fabbri flashed the red card at both Vanoli and Motta without any hesitation.
It was hard to tell exactly how much blame for the actual incident belonged to the coaches, but by holding them responsible for it and treating them equally, the 41-year-old official displayed considerable authority and impartiality to uphold the integrity of the game.
Reactions and rankings
Juventus obviously threatened Torino more than the other way around, Torino boss Vanoli believes his team could’ve gotten more from the game had they shown more courage.
“We could have made history with a bit of luck today, but I am happy with my people,” he said.
“We were too shy initially, but we often recovered the ball when we started pressing collectively. I was more upset when we had the ball. We were positioned well, and we didn’t stress their defence enough. We lacked the courage to win the game in the second half, and we should always have it.”
Asked about the red-card incident, Vanoli added: “This is what makes football nice. There is tension, and you can feel it on the pitch. I must improve on this.”
Meanwhile, this was the 12th draw of the season for Juventus after only 19 matches played, and though they are yet to suffer defeat, the Bianconeri are now likely to end the round in sixth place with 33 points, providing Fiorentina beat Monza on Monday. Torino are 12th with 11 points less than their neighbours.
Like Vanoli, Juve boss Motta was happy with certain aspects of his team’s performance, but not with everything he saw.
“We started off very well, and in fact, we took the lead,” Motta said.
“After that, we tracked back, allowing Torino to create dangerous chances with long passes. We should have been more aggressive in the buildup to their goal.
“We entered the pitch well in the second half. We dominated and had chances, but we were not clinical, so we had a draw today.”
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