Serie A: Juventus title hopes over after Torino stalemate

Juventus’ hopes of winning the Italian Serie A title ended after a 0-0 draw at city rival Torino on Saturday.

Juventus is third in the standings on 63 points from 32 games with six matches left to play, 19 behind leaders Inter Milan who hosts Cagliari on Sunday.

Record 36-time Italian champions Juve won the title nine times in a row from 2012-2020 but has not lifted the trophy since.

“It’s a point… we accept it,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told a news conference.

“There’s always the disappointment of not having scored three, but if we hadn’t lost (more) games we would have been in a better place. Today we take it, we have to improve things.”

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Juve remained winless on the road since late January, when it beat Lecce 3-0, and has gone five away games in a row without victory in a single domestic season for the first time since 2010.

Dusan Vlahovic wasted two chances to give Juve the lead in the first half, hitting the post from point blank range and putting Torino keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to work with a shot into the far corner.

The game turned into a more lively derby when Torino forward Duvan Zapata thought he had broken the deadlock for the hosts one minute after the interval, but his effort was ruled out for a foul in the buildup.

Torino continued to press as the second half wore on and Juventus keeper Wojciech Szczesny was forced to dive to save an Antonio Sanabria header.

The Polish keeper needed treatment minutes from fulltime, when Torino defender Adam Masina crashed into him following a corner, but managed to complete the game.

Juventus ended its longest ongoing streak of scoring away goals against a single opponent having netted in each of its previous 15 games at Torino in Serie A.

Juve next travels to 14th-placed Cagliari on Friday before hosting second-placed AC Milan.

Ninth-placed Torino, on 45 points, is now the team with the most Serie A clean sheets at home (11) this season.