Torino 0-1 Juventus

Torino once again tasted defeat in the Derby della Mole against city rivals Juventus, although there was once again controversy as Paul Pogba's winning goal should have been disallowed.

The Granata lined up as expected with Ciro Immobile alongside Alessio Cerci upfront, whilst Matteo Brighi, Omar El Kaddouri, Giuseppe Vives and Kamil Glik all returned to the starting eleven.

The opening 45 minutes was a largely forgettable affair, although Torino had two half chances via Danilo D'Ambrosio's off target header and Alessio Cerci's free kick. At the other end, whilst Juventus had a fair amount of possession, they struggled to make it count in the final third, with Giuseppe Vives in particular doing a fine job of keeping the bianconeri at bay.

Juventus should have taken the lead moments after the break, when Carlos Tevez neat pass gave Sebastian Giovinco an excellent chance, but his low shot was straight at Daniele Padelli. 

However the away side did not have long to wait, as they took the lead soon afterwards - and once again it was a set piece that proved to be Torino's downfall. Although Tevez somehow hit the bar with a header after Leonardo Bonucci's flick on, the opportunistic Paul Pogba was on hand to put the ball in the net. However, as the replays later showed Carlos Tevez was at least a yard offside when his header hit the bar, and therefore it should not have stood. 

However, disappointingly for Torino they failed to react to adversity after going behind, and were unable to alter a game plan that was designed to frustrate Juventus and then hope to score on the counter attack. Torino could have went further behind, but were thankful to Padelli who made an outstanding save to deny substitute Mirko Vucinic, but Toro were unable to create anything of note to even give their supporters a glimmer of hope of forcing an equaliser.

However the most disappointing thing from a Granata perspective was the fact that they lacked a Plan B after going behind, and that whilst going behind to an offside goal was certainly unfortunate - in some ways this almost gave the players an excuse to hide behind, and that any post match criticism would easily by diverted onto the officials.

An entertaining exchange did occur sometime after the full time whistle, as both sides were involved in an online argument that was instigated by Juve coach Antonio Conte's bizarre claim that his side had dominated possession for 70 minutes. Torino responded with a statement on their official website questioning Conte's mathematics skills, as league statistics proved Juve only enjoyed 52% possession. 

The official Juventus Twitter account responded to this with good humour, by stating that they were still able to count to 0 - the number of shots Torino managed on goal during the ninety minutes. But the Torino Twitter account managed to have last word with a humorous jibe about the number of scudetti their neighbours have won - with the number 29 being a contentious number amongst Juventus fans, who maintain that they have won 31 titles despite two being revoked due to the Calciopoli scandal.

If only football matches were won as easily as arguments on Twitter, then Toro may not have had to wait eighteen years for their last victory against Juventus.

Forza Toro