Juventus continued their unbeaten run but remained two points off the pace at the top of the table following a 1-1 draw with Inter.
Dusan Vlahovic opened the scoring on 27 minutes completing a move the striker had started from midfield. Inter drew level six minutes later through Lautaro Martinez.
Neither attack could penetrate the defensive walls again after the break as the game finished with a share of the spoils.
THE MATCH
The opening phases of the 249th Derby d’Italia saw both sides take careful measure of their opponents. The fact that the teams were tactically mirror images would have an important influence over the entire 90 minutes.
The first chance came after a quarter of an hour when Juve won possession at the edge of the visitors’ penalty area. Federico Chiesa was picked out unmarked, but curled his shot high and wide of Yann Sommer’s goal.
Three minutes later Inter created their first chance. A cross from the right found Lautaro Martinez, whose header at the edge of the six-yard box was comfortably dealt with by Wojciech Szczesny.
Another phase of intense study followed before the breakthrough was made on 27 minutes. Dusan Vlahovic started and finished the move.
The number 9 earned possession at the halfway line, and released Chiesa, who returned the favour with a slide rule pass into the path of Vlahovic now just inside the area. The striker coolly steered the ball beyond Sommer.
The lead was short-lived.
Six minutes later, Marcus Thuram, whose father watched on from the stands, broke down the right. His cross was met first- time by Lautaro, who beat Szczesny with an angled shot.
The teams headed into the break all square. At the restart defences slowly but surely gained the upper hand. Inter had a sight on goal six minutes in but Thuram’s shot failed to concern Szczesny.
On the hour mark Manuel Locatelli replaced Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, who’ll remember his first ever start in the black and white stripes. Arek Milik and Moise Kean were brought on as the game headed into the closing stages with the intention to shake up the Inter backline, but defences remained on top all the way to the final whistle.
A share of the points ended Juve’s winning streak of five matches, but extended the run without loss to eight matches.