AS Roma and Juventus played out an exciting 1-1 draw as they fought for a place in Europe, bringing Roma’s seven-game winning streak in the Serie A to an end.
The match began cautiously, but even early on, Juventus seemed sharper going forward than they had been under their previous coach, Thiago Motta. They dominated possession in the first 20 minutes with over 80% of the ball, though Roma’s strong defence kept them from creating clear chances. Roma responded with a decent spell themselves, and came close to scoring when Bryan Cristante’s shot was cleared by a brilliant sliding tackle from Pierre Kalulu.
The rest of the first half was played at a rapid pace. Both teams hit the woodwork—Nico González’s header was tipped onto the bar by Mile Svilar, and Stephan El Shaarawy later hit the post. The breakthrough came five minutes before half-time, when Kalulu’s cross was cleared to the edge of the box and Manuel Locatelli volleyed it beautifully into the bottom corner.
At half-time, Claudio Ranieri took a gamble by swapping defender Mats Hummels for an extra attacker—and it paid off quickly. Evan Ndicka’s header was saved, but substitute Eldor Shomurodov was quickest to react, knocking the ball in off the bar. Roma then looked more dangerous, but solid defending from Juventus—especially Kalulu—kept the score level.
Juventus pushed hard in the last 10 minutes, looking for a winner, but couldn’t find it and had to settle for a draw. Although Roma dropped points in the league for the first time since early February, they’ll take confidence into next weekend’s fiery Derby della Capitale against sixth-placed Lazio. Juventus, meanwhile, remain fifth and avoided losing to a direct rival, but they’ve now only won three out of 15 matches against the current top nine sides.
