In Serie A, the Flying Donkeys of Chievo scored a late but deserved equaliser to frustrate Juve’s Scudetto ambitions in a game that had everything: red cards, spectacular goals and misses, and a shaky Juventus backline, writes Gary Andrews.
Anybody getting withdrawal symptoms from a lack of Premier League action could have done worse than spend their Sunday with this exciting advert for the best Serie A had to offer. Juventus will be ruing Milos Krasic’s miss after Sergio Pellissier equalised with just a few seconds left on the clock.
It was no less than Chievo deserved. Stefano Pioli’s men had taken the game the Juve in the opening stages and kept up the pressure right until the very end. Juventus, for their part, had several chances to wrap the game up, even after going down to ten men, while Gigi Del Neri’s ultra-defensive substitutions invited the Verona team to attack.
Two moments in the first half rocked the Flying Donkeys though. Giorgio Chiellini pulled back Davide Moscardelli for a soft Chievo penalty after a quarter of the hour but Michele Marcolini’s penalty was kept out by a fine save from Marco Storari. Chievo will be aggrieved that Chiellini’s punishment was only a yellow card.
Marcolini’s miss woke Juve somewhat and fifteen minutes later the Turin side were ahead with one of the contenders for goal of the season. There seemed little danger when the ball was floated into the Chievo penalty area, but Fabio Quagliarella, with his back to goal, turned, leapt, and planted an unstoppable bicycle kick into the top corner. Even by Quagliarella’s eye-catching standards, this was impressive.
The sublime strike knocked the wind out of Chievo but Juventus once again proved to be their own worst enemy but slowly unravelling in the second half.
First Manuel Giandonato ensured he had a debut to forget by pulling back Kevin Constant when the Chievo attacker got goal side of the young defender. Although the offence was a good 25 yards out, Giandonato could have few complaints as the last man.
Chievo pushed forward in search of an equaliser but on the occasions Juventus got the ball they proved to be a danger on the counter attack and should have seen the game off long before the final whistle.
First Vincenzo Iaquinta wasted a golden opportunity after being put through by Krasic only to be denied by the keeper, while the winger’s miss ten minutes from time was the sublime and the ridiculous all in one. Krasic latched onto a ball and raced a full 50 yards up the pitch and rounded the keeper only to lean back with his shot and clip the top of the bar with the goal at his mercy.
And the Serbian could only look on in despair from the bench after a spot of goalmouth pinball in the final minute of stoppage time saw Pellissier fire a smart finish into the bottom corner. That strike, combined with Napoli’s late winner, saw Juve pegged back into joint second, when they could have moved to within three points of leaders Milan.
Tags: Chievo, Fabio Quagliarella, Juventus, Serie A