Juventus and Roma share spoils in Turin
Reuters - Saturday 13 November 2010, 22:46
MILAN - Juventus and AS Roma shared a 1-1
draw in Turin on Saturday after visiting forward Francesco Totti
cancelled out Vincenzo Iaquinta's opener to keep both teams on
the fringes of the Serie A title race.
Roma coach Claudio Ranieri, facing the club who surprisingly
sacked him two seasons ago, opted for Mirko Vucinic and Totti up
front with Marco Borriello dropped to the bench but the
partnership only worked in patches.
Iaquinta got the nod over Alessandro Del Piero to start for
fourth-placed Juve and although he wasted a good early chance,
the striker expertly converted former Roma midfielder Alberto
Aquilani's assist after 35 minutes.
The duo will now hope to be recalled to the Italy squad on
Sunday for Wednesday's friendly with Romania although a weary
Iaquinta was substituted early in the second period.
TOTTI PENALTY
Juve, with youth team defender Frederik Sorensen forced to
play right-back and substitute Armand Traore making his debut at
left-back, could not hang on to the lead and Totti equalised
deep into first-half stoppage-time with a penalty.
Totti won the spot-kick when his own shot was clearly
blocked by the hands of Simone Pepe.
Both sides could have won but Juve shaded the second half.
"We should have been more incisive and concrete," Ranieri
told Sky TV. "It was two teams who wanted to win. In the first
half maybe we had the chance to take charge but we didn't
strike. Instead they scored with their first effort."
Roma, runners-up last season, have steadily climbed the
table after a bad start and are now just four points off top
spot with Juve three behind leaders AC Milan after 12 games.
Fiorentina earlier beat visitors Cesena 1-0 thanks to
Alberto Gilardino's well-taken 59th minute goal but strike
partner Adrian Mutu, who has only just returned from a drugs
ban, limped off with a groin problem in the first half.
Sinisa Mihajlovic's side moved into the top half of the
table for the first time this season while Cesena, who beat
Lazio in midweek, stayed second bottom.