Monday 1 December 2014

Juventus 2-1 Torino

Torino suffered an agonising defeat in the dying seconds, as Andrea Pirlo's last gasp winner broke Granata hearts.

Giampiero Ventura made a brave selection ahead of the game, as he chose two former Juve strikers, Amauri and Fabio Quagliarella to lead the line for Toro.

The away side feared the worst when after just fifteen minutes, Juventus were awarded a penalty when Omar El Kaddouri was penalised for handball as he attempted to block an Andrea Pirlo free kick. Arturo Vidal was forced to take the spot kick twice by referee Daniele Orsato, after there was encroaching on the first attempt, but the Chilean midfielder made no mistake to give Juventus the lead.

However, just seven minutes later, Torino ended their 12 year (or 4662 days) wait for a goal in the derby, as Brazilian wing back Bruno Peres smashed that unwanted record in sensational fashion. After picking the ball up on the edge of his own area, the former Santos man sprinted ninety yards past three Juventus players before unleashing a fierce strike past Marco Storari.

At the start of the second half. the two former Juve strikers combined but Fabio Quagliarella' effort from Amauri's through ball went narrowly wide of the post. Jean Francois Gillet made a good save to deny Leonardo Bonucci, whilst Toro twice went close on the counter attack through Marco Benassi and then Omar El Kaddouri.

With twelve minutes remaining Stephan Lichtsteiner was sent off after receiving a second yellow card, and that gave Toro added hope that a first Derby Della Mole victory since 1995 was within grasp.

However, with literally seconds remaining, Marco Benassi lost possession and the ball was fed to Andrea Pirlo whose sensational low drive from 30 yards out beat Jean Francois Gillet and crushed Torino hearts.

As hard as it is to say after such a heartbreaking defeat, there were plenty of positives to take from this performance, as Toro finally scored a goal in the derby, and undoubtedly deserved at least a point.

However, defeats like this will only make Toro's victory against Juventus all the sweeter, whenever that might be.

Forza Toro

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