Torino saw their dominant start and two-goal lead evaporate after Wilfried Singo was sent off, but clung on for a point against Empoli after an hour down to 10 men.
This was a special day for the Granata, as they were celebrating the 115th anniversary of the club’s foundation and wearing special edition jerseys to mark the occasion. They lost Andrea Belotti until the New Year, also missing Cristian Ansaldi, Simone Verdi, Rolando Mandragora and Koffi Djidji. Empoli had a full squad at their disposal and were fresh from a comeback win over Fiorentina.
Marko Pjaca’s deflected curler turned into an assist for Antonio Sanabria, his header just wide of the back post, and moments later a similar situation saw Torino take the lead.
This time Sanabria’s shot was deflected and Tommaso Pobega came sliding in at the far stick, flicking it in off the outside of the left boot.
Pjaca did get his goal eventually, again cutting in from the left and this time steering the right-foot finish into the far bottom corner from just inside the penalty area.
Filippo Bandinelli’s angled drive was deflected just wide, then Federico Di Francesco was brought down just outside the box for a Wilfried Singo yellow card. However, after viewing it again on the VAR monitor, the referee upgraded it to a red for preventing a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
Moments later, Simone Romagnoli was allowed a free header on a Liam Henderson corner to get Empoli right back into the game.
Ola Aina’s cross-shot was flapped away, while Andrea Pinamonti almost got his toe to a Henderson ball over the top.
Empoli almost equalised within 40 seconds of the restart, as Pinamonti’s back-heel flick found Di Francesco, whose curler was deflected onto the crossbar.
However, 10-man Torino remained dangerous on the counter, Bremer running from the edge of his own penalty area to fire an angled drive just wide.
Andrea La Mantia had the ball in the net on 69 minutes, but was clearly offside when he started the run. It was only a warning, as three minutes later he got in front of Alessandro Buongiorno for a glancing header into the top corner on Sebastiano Luperto’s assist.
Fabiano Parisi dribbled all the way to the by-line and pulled back, the Tomas Rincon interception risking an own goal.
It was a full-on siege in the closing stages, but Torino clung on for a point after being down to 10 men for over an hour.
Torino 2-2 Empoli
Pobega 10 (T), Pjaca 15 (T), Romagnoli 34 (E), La Mantia 72 (E)
Sent off: Singo 32 (T)