Ante Rebic canceled out Alvaro Morata's opener; Jose Mourinho suffered his first loss as AS Roma boss as they lost 3-2 in Verona.
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Juventus and AC Milan settled for a 1-1 draw in Turin on Sunday. Alvaro Morata gave a perfect start to the home side in the fourth minute. However, Ante Rebic scored the equalizer in the 76th minute to share the points and deny Massimiliano Allegri’s side their first Serie A victory of the season. Meanwhile, in the other match of the day, Jose Mourinho suffered his first defeat as AS Roma boss. Hellas Verona FC came from behind to earn new coach Igor Tudor a 3-2 debut win in Verona.
Juventus, who are going through their worst start to the Serie A season since 1961-62 started the game brightly. Morata, who inspired Juventus to win over Malmo in the Champions League in midweek, scored his third goal to cheer the home fans. Milan’s corner was cleared and Paulo Dybala released Morata from midfield. The Spanish striker ran clear on goal with only Theo Hernandez chasing him desperately. But the 28-year-old kept his cool and calmly scooped the ball over the advancing Milan goalkeeper.
The goal certainly lifted the morale of the team as they searched for a second. Morata got in front of Kjaer to flick left-back Alex Sandro’s low cross. But, Mike Maignan got down quickly to make the save at the near post. And then, Dybala tested Maignan from outside the area.
Meanwhile, the away side who were already without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olivier Giroud, Davide Calabria, Rade Krunic, Tiemoue Bakayoko, and Junior Messias had another injury concern as Kjaer pulled up with a muscular problem. He was replaced by Pierre Kalulu in the 35th minute. Despite a host of regulars missing, Milan started to slowly get into the game.
Rebic’s shot was charged down by Giorgio Chiellini and Sandro Tonali’s shot from the rebound went wide. Rafael Leao fired over the bar. At the other end, Danilo’s angled drive was parried away by Maignan.
Stefano Pioli’s side finally got the equalizer from a corner kick. Tonali’s out-swinging corner from the right flank was headed in by Rebic. The Croatian towered between Rabiot and Manuel Locatelli to head in off the inside of the far post. The equalizer shifted the momentum towards the away side and they searched for the winner. Brahim Diaz’s cross-field pass was fired over by Rebic.
Pierre Kalulu got the best chance to score the winner. Hernandez laid the ball to Kalulu who was charging down the right, but his close-range shot was brilliantly saved by Wojciech Szczesny. After the draw, Milan is placed second in the points table with ten points from four games, whereas Juve has been pushed to the relegation zone. The Old Lady has only two points from the opening four games.
Lorenzo Pellegrini’s clever flick from right-back Rick Karsdorp’s low cross gave Roma the lead in the 36th minute. Four minutes after the restart, Antonin Barak equalized for the home side. And then, in the 54th minute, Gianluca Caprari put the host ahead. The Italian cut inside from the left and slotted the ball past Rui Patricio into the far post with a precise finish.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Ivan Ilic scored an own goal as he turned a Pellegrini cross into his own goal.
It was an open game and Davide Faraoni scored the winner in the 63rd minute with a sensational goal. The Italian’s volley from outside the box rattled the crossbar and went inside the goal.
It was Verona’s first win after three consecutive losses whereas it was Roma’s first loss of the campaign, they are third in the table with nine points from four games.
