Somewhat surprisingly Giampiero Ventura started the game with the same team that gained a point against Fiorentina six days ago, a bold move as that 4-2-4 line up included strikers Riccardo Meggiorini and Rolando Bianchi, as well as wingers Alessio Cerci and Mario Santana.
The Granata started brightly, and Mario Santana cut in on his right foot to test Gianluigi Buffon with a low shot, but the experienced goalkeeper dealt with the shot easily. The away side were continuing to take the game to the league leaders, and after capitalising on a mistake by Leonardo Bonucci, Riccardo Meggiorini should have given Toro the lead, but his shot went wide of the far post.
That scare seemed to wake La Vecchia Signora up, and young midfielder Paul Pogba tested Jean-Francois Gillet with a volley from 25 yards out, which was initially parried by the Belgian stopper before being cleared for a corner by Kamil Glik. Pogba again tried his luck from distance minutes later, but this time Gillet was able to tip the ball over the bar with little difficulty.
The turning point arose on 36 minutes when Polish defender Kamil Glik was shown a straight red card by referee Gianluca Rocchi for a foul on Emanuele Giaccherini. Whilst Glik did get the ball, the challenge was somewhat reckless, and was also unnecessary as the ball was on the half way line.
If it was a tough ask to get anything from this game with eleven men, it was almost impossible after being reduced to ten - and Riccardo Meggiorini was sacrificed in order for centre back Valerio Di Cesare to come on. Five minutes before half time Juventus were awarded a penalty after Migjen Basha slipped and inadvertently upended the impressive Pogba .
However, the pressure of the derby seemed to get to the usually reliable Andrea Pirlo, and he blasted the penalty over the bar - and somehow Torino got to the half time break with the scores level at 0-0.
Juventus should have taken the lead immediately after the restart, when Mirko Vucinic's cross was flicked on by substitute Niklas Bendtner, but somehow Pogba put his header over the bar. However with just over thirty minutes to go, the bianconeri finally took the lead, as two Turin-born players combined when Claudio Marchisio met Sebastian Giovinco's fine cross to plant a diving header past the helpless Gillet.
The home side doubled their lead ten minutes later, when Giovinco got on the score sheet himself as he fired a low shot into the far corner from just inside the area. Juve had chances to extend their lead as Paul Pogba once again continued his individual battle with Jean-Francois Gillet, and once again the Torino goalkeeper prevailed as he made another fine save to deny the Frenchman.
With six minutes remaining Juventus scored once again, as Vucinic chested the ball back to Marchisio who scored his second goal of the night with a powerful left footed shot into the far corner, and once again Gillet had no chance of saving it. The Granata had half chances to end their decade wait for a Derby della Mole goal, but they will now have to wait until the end of April to try and end that unwanted statistic as the game ended 3-0.
As Giampiero Ventura stated in his post match interview, the game was effectively finished as a contest after Kamil Glik's first half red card - although Toro fans may wonder what would have happened had he not been dismissed, as the Granata had certainly matched their opponents up until that point. However, it wasn't to be, and Torino must quickly forget about this game and focus on the next one - at home to a resurgent AC Milan next Sunday afternoon.
Forza Torino
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