Juventus missed out on the chance to move to within a point of second-placed Roma in Serie A when they were held to a 0-0 draw by city rivals Torino at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin.

The Bianconeri had the lion's share of the play throughout the game but were largely reduced to pot shots from distance by Torino's hard-working defensive unit.

The nearest either side came to scoring was when Torino substitute Alessandro Rosina saw his deft free-kick bounce back off the crossbar midway through the second half.

Juve's frustrations came to a head deep into injury time, when Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved was red carded after reacting angrily to a challenge by Gianluca Comotto.

Juventus dominated possession in the first period, but lacked a cutting edge in the absence through illness of top scorer David Trezeguet.

Their best effort at breaking the deadlock was when Torino goalkeeper Matteo Sereni was forced to tip over Vincenzo Iaquinta's powerful header after 26 minutes, but the biggest incident of the half came when Torino defender Cesare Natali had to be stretchered off after taking a blow to the head in a collision with his own goalkeeper.

Juve had a hopeful penalty appeal turned down when Nedved went to ground under a challenge from Marco Di Loreto, and saw Alessandro Del Piero waste a succession of promising dead-ball opportunities.

Likewise Torino - for all the occasional promptings of Alvaro Recoba - were unable to draw a save from Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon at the other end, and the first half ended goalless.

Del Piero drew a save from Sereni with a low shot after seven minutes of the second period, and thought he had given his side the lead on the hour mark, only for his back-post volley to be rightly ruled out for offside.

The Juve number 10 then tested Sereni's reflexes with a powerfully struck 30-yard free-kick that the Torino keeper did brilliantly to palm away, as the Bianconeri upped their search for a break-through.

But it was Torino who came closest when, with 15 minutes remaining, the disappointing Recoba handed dead-ball duties to Rosina and he curled the ball over the wall and against the crossbar from 22 yards with Buffon rooted to the spot.

Rattled, Juve threw men forward, and Iaquinta came close to converting when Sereni pushed away Mauro Camoranesi's header, only for the industrious Comotto to get in the way.

Nedved and Antonio Nocerino both fired in hopeful long-range efforts from distance as time began to tick away, and Nedved compounded his side's disappointment late on when he saw red for a rash and needless push to the back of Comotto's head right in front of the referee.

The result keeps Juventus in third place, 12 points behind leaders Internazionale, while Torino remain in 12th, five points clear of the relegation zone.

Tom Williams / Eurosport