How Juventus Threw Away Lead In 1-1 Serie A Draw With Cagliari

Dusan Vlahovic dejected after decisive miss (Photo by sportinfoto/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Having beaten RB Leipzig in their midweek UEFA Champions League encounter – a game that was discussed in this previous column – Juventus were back in domestic action on Sunday.

A lunchtime kickoff against Cagliari gave the Turin giants a chance to claim three more points before the break for international fixtures, while maintaining pace with league leaders Napoli.

Juve would of course need to do so without Gleison Bremer after it was announced the Brazilian defender would require surgery on his torn ACL. That injury was detailed previously here, and pushed the Bianconeri into deploying Federico Gatti and Pierre Kalulu in central defence.

The game was less than 15 minutes old when Juve were awarded a contentious penalty, which was duly dispatched by Dusan Vlahovic who took his tally to five goals in the last three games.

Amid the ensuing celebrations, players grabbed a Bremer no.3 shirt from the bench and held it aloft, reminding their team-mate that he remains an important member of the group as he recovers from that aforementioned injury.

Yet perhaps the biggest testament to Bremer’s absence was the side’s lack of solidity with him missing from the lineup. Cagliari would have a number of chances as Juve’s reshuffled backline clearly lacked the confidence of previous weeks.

Roberto Piccoli, Zito Luvumbo and Razvan Marin all had chances to equalise for the Rossoblu, but all three failed to capitalise and it seemed like Juve were heading for a routine victory.

Yet if Vlahovic thought his woes in front of goal were behind him, they would raise their head again in the 78th minute. An effort from substitute Douglas Luiz was parried directly to the Serbia striker by Cagliari goalkeeper Simone Scuffet, only for Vlahovic to miss when it seemed easier to score.

Ten minutes later the Bianconeri would pay for that miscue when Luiz — who gave away a penalty in midweek — clattered into Piccoli and another spot kick was awarded.

Up stepped Marin to snatch a draw, with Juve’s problems compounded when the referee decided Francisco Conceicao had dived after contact, dismissing the Portugal international with his second yellow card of the afternoon.

Both sides would hit the woodwork in injury time, but Thiago Motta was left lamenting the fact his side did not put the result beyond doubt following Vlahovic’s opener.

“We controlled the game and managed the ball in the first half after the goal, but we shouldn’t have done,” the Juve boss told DAZN. “We should have continued attacking. In the second half, we created some chances, but there was always a feeling that Cagliari could go back into the game.

“We took the lead, and after that, we managed the result; that’s where we must improve. All Serie A games are tricky, regardless of opponents. Today, we left our opponents room to get back in the game and struggled to kill them off.”

That is certainly true and Motta now has two weeks to address the issues, ahead of three crucial games against Lazio, VfB Stuttgart and Inter after the international break.