Serie A - Fiorentina hold faltering Juventus

Eurosport - Sat, 17 Oct 18:54:00 2009

Juventus continued their recent string of poor results with a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin.

2009-10 Serie A Fiorentina Juan Manuel Vargas (Reuters) - 0

Juan Manuel Vargas stunned the home crowd to put the Viola ahead after just five minutes before Amauri levelled things up on 19 minutes to salvage a point for the hosts.

The Old Lady have now gone five games without a win, although they remain in third place, a point behind Sampdoria and four behind leaders Internazionale, who thumped Genoa 5-0 in the late kick-off.

Cesare Prandelli's Fiorentina stay in fourth, level on 15 points with Juve, but with an inferior goal difference.

Stevan Jovetic, the exciting 19-year-old Montenegrin forward, was the architect of the opening goal, threading a pass through for Peruvian Vargas to run on to and dispatch past Gigi Buffon.

The early set-back sparked Juve into action, and Vincenzo Iaquinta should have equalised 10 minutes later. But the Italy forward's finish did not match his initial turn around Massimo Gobbi and Sebastien Frey was able to make a close-range save.

Iaquinta then conspired to deny his striker partner Amauri a certain goal, getting a crucial touch to take the ball away from the Brazilian, just as he seemed destined to find the back of the net.

The pair were to link up successfully to level the scores soon after, although there was a distinct element of fortune to the goal.

Christian Poulsen's long ball forward found the run of Iaquinta, who latched onto it and attempted a first time shot on goal. He scuffed his effort horribly but fortunately for him, and those Juve fans in a rain-sodden Olimpico, the ball fell kindly for Amauri, who gratefully applied the finishing touch.

Fiorentina had a goal disallowed before the half-time whistle sounded, captain Dario Dainelli penalised for some shirt tugging as Vargas whipped a free-kick into the six-yard box and the ball deflected off a Juve head into the back of the net.

But otherwise, attempts on Buffon's goal were few and far between, as most of the action played out at the other end.

Mohamed Sissoko, making his first appearance since returning from injury, was denied by Frey moments before seeing a goalbound header blocked by a posse of Viola shirts.

Frey was again called into action to deny Fabio Grosso and Amauri before Felipe Melo headed over the bar when he was in acres of space and should have done better.

Amauri again went close on 71 minutes with a snap shot from the edge of the penalty box but it was not to be Juve's night and Ciro Ferrara's side departed from the pitch at full-time to a chorus of whistles from disgruntled home fans.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

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  1. @#$% comment, lucky my arse! majority of march played­ out in fiorentina half tells who REALLY were the­ better team. juve have the class,its only a matter of­ time before the goals start coming .

    From kenny f, on Sun 18 Oct 10:04AM
  2. Iaquinta would score 3 goals in a year let alone a­ game!!! Get it right!
    We need Del Piero back!

    From ilovejuventus, on Sat 17 Oct 9:09PM
  3. The scorer of Italy's hat-trick agains Cyprus was­ Gilardino not Iaquinta.

    From Caruana, on Sat 17 Oct 8:51PM
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