Juventus held to goalless draw by SPAL

Serie A leaders Juventus suffered a partial setback yesterday when they were held to a goalless draw by relegation-haunted SPAL.

Despite the loss of two points, they still remain five points above second placed Napoli who have today’s match against Genoa at home in hand.

SPAL more than held their own in the first half, as they kept the Serie A leaders to a draw going into the break.

The Bianconeri started the match four points clear of Napoli at the top of the table, but Daniele Rugani stepped in for suspended Medhi Benatia with Alex Sandro moved into a more advanced role.

SPAL had picked up seven points from their last three games, but Federico Mattiello was out injured with Marco Borriello.

The last time Juventus played a top flight match in Ferrara was a 1-0 victory in May 1968.

It was all SPAL in the early stages, but when Juve did emerge from their own half they were dangerous. Douglas Costa dribbled past some defenders and his slide-rule pass sent Alex Sandro through, but Filippo Costa made a decisive block.

Paulo Dybala also curled a shot just past the far top corner, but Giorgio Chiellini needed a desperate interception on Costa’s cross after he went clear down the left.

A corner was cleared to the edge of the box, where Kwadwo Asamoah’s half-volley flew over the bar, but on the stroke of halftime, Dybala’s free kick skimmed the frame of the goal.

In the second half, it was a continuous assualt by Juventus on the SPAL goal, but the Italian champions could not find their way past a very determined SPAL side

The nearest Juventus went to scoring was on 80 minutes through Mandzukic, but his header missed the target.

Sassuolo ended their nightmare run and intensified Udinese’s problems with a 2-1 away victory, sealed by Stefano Sensi.

The Friulani had lost four on the bounce and Sassuolo were without a win in nine rounds.

Ali Adnan accidentally put the ball into his own net, but two minutes later Seko Fofana sent a scorching curler into the far top corner to draw the hosts level.

The decisive moment came 15 minutes from time, as Matteo Politano’s nutmeg assist found Sensi to fire in the winning goal. Yesterday Udinese-Sassuolo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 SPAL-Juventus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-0 Today Juventus Napoli Roma Lazio Inter AC Milan Sampdoria Atalanta Fiorentina Turin Udinese Bologna Genoa Sassuolo Cagliari Chievo SPAL Crotone Verona Benevento PW D L F A Pts 29 24 3 2 67 15 75 28 22 4 2 62 19 70 28 17 5 6 47 23 56 28 16 5 7 66 36 53 27 14 10 3 42 21 52 27 14 5 8 38 30 47 27 13 5 9 47 38 44 27 11 8 8 38 31 41 27 10 8 9 36 32 38 27 8 12 7 36 35 36 28 10 3 15 38 42 33 28 10 3 15 33 40 33 27 8 6 13 21 28 30 28 7 6 15 18 48 27 27 7 5 15 25 43 26 27 6 7 14 23 44 25 29 5 10 14 28 50 25 27 6 6 15 27 48 24 27 6 4 17 25 51 22 27 3 1 23 18 61 10 Friday Yesterday

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