Juventus were moments away from a huge away victory in the fight for Champions League qualification, but after Randal Kolo Muani’s header and a Pierre Kalulu red card, Matias Vecino snatched Lazio’s last-gasp equaliser.
These teams went into the weekend locked together in fourth place on 63 points, along with Roma, so it was a crucially important crossroads for Champions League qualification. Elseid Hysaj sat out a ban, plus Nuno Tavares and Patric were injured, while the Bianconeri were still missing Teun Koopmeiners, Lloyd Kelly, Andrea Cambiaso, Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Arek Milik and suspended Kenan Yildiz. Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Gatti returned for a spot on the bench, as Igor Tudor faced his former club.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was sent down the right by Matteo Guendouzi to force a save at the near post after just 120 seconds, while Michele Di Gregorio also flapped away a Gustav Isaksen cross-shot.
Alberto Costa’s effort was charged down after Christos Mandas flailed at a corner, then he sent Nicoló Rovella to ground with a dummy, his angled drive parried by Alessio Romagnoli.
Pierre Kalulu had to make a desperate sliding tackle to stop Dele-Bashiru going clear, but Juventus broke the deadlock after the restart.
Weston McKennie stood up a cross from the left and Kolo Muani had peeled away from Romagnoli for a free header from five yards, pushing back the Mandas glove.
Juventus see red against Lazio
However, much like when facing Monza, Juventus shot themselves in the foot with an entirely unforced error. Pierre Kalulu lashed out a fist onto the back of Taty Castellanos during a coming together and VAR spotted the gesture, prompting the referee to show a straight red card. Kenan Yildiz is still sitting out a two-match ban for a very similar incident.
Lazio began to pour forward against 10 men, Mario Gila’s header smothered by Di Gregorio and Pedro firing just over the bar.
Pedro also tested the goalkeeper from distance, then Renato Veiga made an acrobatic and very risky clearance to prevent Boulaye Dia tapping in the Luca Pellegrini cross.
Tudor raised some eyebrows when he hauled off two substitutes Francisco Conceicao and Vasilije Adzic, the latter only coming on 10 minutes earlier, to introduce Vlahovic and Gatti.
The Lazio siege continued, Romagnoli nodding a corner over and the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty on 88 minutes when Nicoló Savona’s awful back-pass saw Di Gregorio crash into Castellanos. However, VAR came to Juve’s rescue this time, confirming the striker was offside and therefore no spot-kick.
The drama continued in stoppages with an astonishing Di Gregorio fingertip save to push the Dia angled drive onto the upright from point-blank range.
It wasn’t over, as at the 96th minute Di Gregorio made another great save on the Castellanos header from a Manuel Lazzari cross, but could do nothing on Vecino’s rebound from three yards.
Lazio 1-1 Juventus
Kolo Muani 51 (J), Vecino 96 (L)
Sent off: Kalulu 60 (J)
Player statistic
| 21' |  |
Khéphren Thuram | ||
| 28' | |
Nicolò Savona |
| 51' |  |
Randal Kolo Muani (Assist: Weston McKennie) | ||
| 55' | |
Manuel Locatelli | ||
| 60' |  |
Pierre Kalulu | ||
| Taty Castellanos | |
69' | ||
| Luca Pellegrini | |
80' | ||
| Matías Vecino | |
90' | ||
| Mattéo Guendouzi | |
90+1' | ||
| Mattia Zaccagni | |
90+2' | ||
| Matías Vecino | |
90+6' | ||
| 90+3' | |
Weston McKennie |
Match statistic
Both teams played a terrible game. The technical quality was so poor that it’s easy to see why Serie A is lagging behind the Premier League and La Liga.
LOL to Serie A 🤡
@El Cid yes, it was and you’re right on this match, however this was in no way representative of the avg serie A match, come on.
By the way Baroni now had to let Dia out and experiment with Dele Bashiru in such important match wasn’t the wisest.. Pedro change the dynamics when on as well. It’s still open but not in Lazios hands only (Champions L qualification)
SERIE A REFEREES IS A LAUGHING STOCK!