Juventus scored twice from the penalty spot to rescue a 2-2 draw against Atalanta at the Allianz Stadium in Serie A and move closer to the Scudetto.
Atalanta dominated the first half and went ahead through an early Duvan Zapata strike, before Cristiano Ronaldo levelled in the opening stages of the second period from the spot.
Ruslan Malinovskyi looked to have won it for the visitors with an accurate effort from the edge of the box late on, only for substitute Luis Muriel to handle in the area in the dying minutes. Ronaldo stepped up again and made no mistake with his penalty, as Juventus went eight points clear at the top.
After a bright Juventus start, Atalanta dominated the early proceedings and came close through Zapata’s header from a Timothy Castagne cross, whilst Josip Ilicic curled a low effort just past the post.
La Dea were rewarded for their aggressive attacking play with a quarter of an hour gone, as Zapata finished off a rapid move to break the deadlock.
Remo Freuler did well to pinch the ball and find Alejandro Gomez, and he played a quick one-two with Zapata before spinning and threading the Colombian in with a delicate through ball. Zapata made no mistake in holding off Rodrigo Bentancur and rifling home.
Juventus were struggling to make any ground or create chances of note, and came close to falling further behind as Berat Djimsiti’s header from a corner fell to Zapata. Only a Leonardo Bonucci block prevented the striker doubling his tally.
At the other end, Paulo Dybala was one of the few bright sparks for the Bianconeri in the opening period and came closest on the half-hour mark, magnificently bringing down a lofted Bonucci pass and sending a deflected first time effort behind for a corner.
Juventus began the second half well and were level within 10 minutes of the restart. Dybala collected the ball out wide and swung a cross into crowded box, with the ball crashing off Marten De Roon’s elbow. Ronaldo made no mistake from the spot, sending Pierluigi Gollini the wrong way with an accurate penalty.
Despite the equalliser, the visitors grew into the second period and Matthijs De Ligt did well to cut across and prevent Zapata finishing a clever move in the box. From the resulting corner, Hans Hateboer rose highest but could only send his header into the side-netting.
Ronaldo looked to have turned the match on it’s head as he latched onto a fine Juan Cuadrado ball over the top with a wonderful first touch, but his powerful shot was well blocked by Gollini.
Meanwhile, Atalanta striker Muriel took advantage of a De Ligt slip to steal the ball and moved it on to Djimsiti, who in turn found substitute Malinovskyi. Whilst the Ukrainian’s shot through Bonucci’s legs whistled inches past the far post, his next effort proved to be decisive.
Meeting Muriel’s squared pass, Malinovskyi drilled into the bottom corner first time to leave Wojciech Sczcesny with no chance, as Atalanta were rewarded for their persistence in the Juventus half.
However, the visitors were gifted a last gasp equaliser with another handball in the box, as Gonzalo Higuain flicked a corner against Muriel’s stray arm. Ronaldo stepped up again and drilled into the bottom corner to rescue a point.
