Juventus held at home in six-goal thriller with Atalanta
Juventus were hoping to put a controversial week behind them as they came up against an Atalanta side that had scored 13 goals in their last two games. The Old Lady had a huge mountain to climb in order to reach the UEFA Champions League places after being docked 15 Serie A (SA) points by the FIGC (Italian FA) for their transfer dealings. After conceding five top-flight goals for the time since 1993 last time out against SA leaders Napoli, the hosts defence once again was non-existent, sloppily giving the ball away before Ademola Lookman beat Wojciech Szczęsny at his near post to make it 1-0 inside five minutes.
Juventus were on an impressive home run however, having won five SA games in a row, and they started to play like a side boasting that record as they upped the intensity. The hosts were duly rewarded for their reaction when Éderson brought down Nicolò Fagioli in the penalty area, and following a VAR check referee Livio Marinelli pointed to the spot allowing Di María to make it 1-1. The momentum was now in favour of Juventus and they took the lead when Fagioli's fantastic cross found Arkadiusz Milik who scored a fantastic half-volley to make it 2-1 at HT.
Atalanta started the second-half as they started the first - by scoring straight away. Lookman brilliantly picked out Joakim Mæhle, who displayed superb composure to place the ball into the bottom corner and level the scoreline. The host’s defence were caught napping once again when Lookman out jumped Alex Sandro at the back-post to head in for 3-2 to seal consecutive braces for Atalanta. To Juventus’ credit they were unfazed by going behind a for second time and levelled things up 65 minutes in, when a superb Di María backheel free-kick teed up Danilo to smash into the bottom corner.
Both sides had great opportunities to steal all three points right at the death. Firstly though Rafael Tolói, who saw his shot palmed away by Szczęsny before Fabio Miretti criminally hit his weak effort straight at Juan Musso from close range, in a back-and-forth game that will live long in the memory.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)
