Juventus 2-1 Torino: Pirlo denies gutsy Granata with last kick of dramatic derby

Date: 30th November 2014 at 8:05pm
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Juventus secured a last gasp 2-1 win against Torino in the Derby della Mole at a rain soaked Juventus Stadium in Serie A on Sunday evening.

Arturo Vidal’s early penalty was cancelled out by a brilliant solo effort from Bruno Peres, who ran the length of the field before firing home, levelled affairs shortly afterwards. Stephan Lichtsteiner saw red late on in what was a scrappy, yet highly entertaining match. Andrea Pirlo drilled home the winner from distance with the last kick of the game to leave the visitors deflated.

Perhaps unsurprisingly it was the hosts, who before today’s game had won their previous 24 Serie A games at Juventus Stadium, looked far more comfortable than the Granata who seemed prepared to sit back and soak up pressure.

Having dominated possession without carving any clear opportunities, the hosts took the lead through Vidal’s penalty after a Torino player had handled Andrea Pirlo’s free kick in the box.

Seven minutes later, the Granata would be level, their first goal against their more illustrious opponents since 2002, courtesy of a stunning individual effort from Peres.

The 24-year-old picked up the ball in his own area before charging the length of the pitch down the right wing, skipping around several tacklers, before unleashing an unstoppable strike past Marco Storari that smashed against the far post and into the Juventus net.

Once level, Torino looked more positive and tried to assert their style by exploiting the space out wide but they were unable to create any clear opportunities. As the game reached the interval the Granata were pinned down and were under severe pressure from the Bianconeri,

After the break it was more of the same as Pirlo delivered a number of threatening balls into the box, but his colleagues were incapable of making the most of the chances.

On 52 minutes the visitors should have taken a shock lead. Fabio Quagliarella wasted a magnificent chance following Amauri’s low ball into the middle of the box, however the former Juventus forward could only prod his effort inches wide from close range.

The wet conditions did not allow for much of a spectacle and as the game wore on, the more scrappy an affair it became. Both sides traded long range efforts from Peres and Carlos Tevez without testing the keepers.

Torino were defending admirably and played as a unit closing down Juventus’ creative engines before they could carve any opportunities; Vidal had the ball in the net with 15 minutes to play but the strike was rightly chalked off for being offside.

The visitors were handed a massive boost just moments later as a reckless sliding challenge from Lichtsteiner saw him receive a second booking and leave Juventus a man short for the final 10 minutes.

Immediately afterwards the hosts had their backs against the wall while the visitors were in command of the game and only a pair of last ditch tackles prevented the Granata from snatching the win.

Just as the result looked certain, in the 93rd minute Pirlo crashed home a low shot that hit the bottom corner of the Torino net to leave the Granata heartbroken and send the Juventus faithful into raptures.

 

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