Serie A | Torino 1-1 Venezia: Vlasic penalty holds Lagunari

A penalty kick converted by Nikola Vlasic cancelled out Kike Pérez’s first Serie A goal for Venezia for a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Grande Torino.

Serie A Week 35 began Friday night with a 1-1 draw between Torino and strugglers Venezia.

The Lagunari travelled to Pidemont hoping to secure all three points in the race for survival and had a more convincing start, even if their opening goal was disallowed.

John Yeboah did it all by himself, dribbling past two Torino defenders and hitting the far post with a curler; Christian Gytkjær also hit the woodwork on the rebound, and Alessio Zerbin put the ball inside an empty net. Gytkjær, however, was flagged offside after a VAR check, so Venezia’s goal didn’t stand.

The Lagunari continued to push and ultimately broke the deadlock with Kike Perez who received the ball from Yeboah, ran inside the box with the ball at his feet making the most of Gytkjær cutting inside and found the net with the inside of his foot at the near post, catching Vanja Milinkovic-Savic off guard.

Torino reacted strongly in the second half, pushing Venezia inside their own half. Ché Adams immediately replaced a disappointing Antonio Sanabria. The Scotsman had a big chance, but Ionut Radu deflected his sliding attempt from inside the box.

The Venezia keeper produced another remarkable save on Vlasic, but the ex-West Ham midfielder got his revenge a few minutes later.

In fact, Eljif Elmas earned a penalty kick at minute 77 for a Jay Idzes handball inside the box, which was only spotted with a VAR check.

Vlasic sent Radu the wrong way, scoring his second goal this season and frustrating Venezia’s hopes of getting a much-needed win in the race for survival.

The Lagunari remain 18th in the Serie A table, one point below Lecce, who host Napoli at the Stadio via del Mare on Saturday.