TURIN, Italy: Juventus largely dominated but were unable to get the better of neighbors Torino in a 0-0 home draw on Saturday, dealing a blow to Luciano Spalletti’s side’s hopes of gaining ground in the Serie A title race.
The hosts had won their last two Serie A games since sacking manager Igor Tudor, one of those victories coming in Spalletti’s first game in charge, but a largely toothless derby display left the crowd frustrated.
Juve are fifth in the standings on 19 points from 11 games, two points behind Inter Milan, AC Milan and AS Roma, who all have a match in hand, with leaders Napoli on 22 points ahead of Sunday’s game at Bologna. Torino are in 11th place on 14 points.
The opening half may have been mostly one-way traffic but Juventus struggled to create any real opportunities against their neighbors, any half-chances that came their way inspired by Francisco Conceicao.
The Portuguese winger played a decent ball into Dusan Vlahovic just outside the six-yard area but Torino defender Guillermo Maripan did well to get ahead of the Serbian striker to clear the danger.
Conceicao also had a shot from a wide angle go narrowly the wrong side of the upright. If Conceicao provided a spark on the right side, Kenan Yildiz on the left is still struggling to live up to the number 10 jersey.
Yildiz was often guilty of losing possession, and on the rare occasion he managed to go past his marker, his final ball let him down.
Spalletti cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines, pacing his technical area and only standing still to take notes. But his halftime team talk did little to alter proceedings, if anything Torino grew in confidence and began to threaten.
The visitors, who had not beaten Juventus in their last 20 league meetings, never really looked like changing that statistic, but substitute Che Adams forced Michele Di Gregorio into a save with a powerful strike.
Spalletti changed things up, Edon Zhegrova and Jonathan David coming on, with Conceicao and Vlahovic, somewhat surprisingly, replaced.
Zhegrova whipped in a cross for Weston McKennie but keeper Alberto Paleari parried away the header, and try as Juventus might, a goal proved elusive.
Juventus held to scoreless home draw in Turin derby
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Juventus held to scoreless home draw in Turin derby
- Juve are fifth in the standings on 19 points from 11 games, two points behind Inter Milan
- Conceicao also had a shot from a wide angle go narrowly the wrong side of the upright
Real Madrid to play Benfica, PSG face Monaco in Champions League play-offs
- Real Madrid were handed a quick rematch with Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the draw for the Champions League play-off round on Friday, while reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain will face dome
PARIS: Real Madrid were handed a quick rematch with Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the draw for the Champions League play-off round on Friday, while reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain will face domestic rivals Monaco.
Benfica beat Real 4-2 in their final game of the league phase on Wednesday, with a 98th-minute goal by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin proving decisive in allowing the Portuguese side to snatch the last play-off spot ahead of Marseille, who were eliminated altogether.
The defeat also nudged Madrid out of the top eight places in the league standings, which give direct access to the last 16, forcing them into this extra round.
Benfica staged a remarkable recovery to take a play-off place — they finished 24th in the 36-team league phase, the last qualifying spot — by winning three of their last four matches after losing their opening four games.
Mourinho, 63, returned to the Lisbon giants for a second spell as coach in September. He was in charge of Real from 2010 to 2013 and won one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey while also taking them to the Champions League semifinals in each of his three campaigns.
The clubs played each other in the 1962 European Cup final, with Benfica winning 5-3 to claim the last of their two titles to date.
PSG slipped out of the top eight after winning only one of their last five outings in the league phase and finishing in 11th place.
They will go to Monaco for the first leg and will be wary of the principality side who beat them there in Ligue 1 in November.
However, 2004 Champions League finalists Monaco have been in poor form, with just one win in six games since the turn of the year.
They are 10th in Ligue 1, 21 points behind leaders PSG. However, a 0-0 draw with Juventus on Wednesday allowed them to secure a play-off place in Europe.
Newcastle go to Azerbaijan
PSG also beat French opposition in the play-off round last season, hammering Brest 10-0 on aggregate before going on to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.
Elsewhere, Newcastle United will be strong favorites against surprise packages Qarabag of Azerbaijan, with the first leg to come in Baku.
PSG and Newcastle know that if they win, they will play either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16. Real’s possible last-16 opponents are Manchester City or Sporting, which would mean yet another trip to Lisbon in the latter case.
Bodo/Glimt, Norwegian champions in four of the last six years, were also surprise qualifiers for this stage and have been rewarded with a tie against last season’s runners-up Inter Milan.
Juventus will take on Galatasaray, while Atletico Madrid face Club Brugge. Borussia Dortmund play Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen were drawn against Olympiacos.
The two-legged play-off ties will take place in February, with the winners advancing to the last 16 in March.
Already through to that stage are the top eight teams from the league phase, including five English Premier League sides in Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and City, as well as Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Sporting.
This season’s Champions League final will be played in Budapest on May 30.
