Kenan Yildiz on Sunday fired Juventus back from two goals down to draw 4-4 in an incredible clash at Inter, which allowed SSC Napoli to extend their Serie A lead to four points.
Turkey starlet Yildiz came off the bench with around half an hour left at a packed and pulsating San Siro and brought third-placed Juve back from the dead with two superb finishes in the final 20 minutes.
The 19-year-old stunned the more than 70,000 home fans who were convinced that they were watching their team make a scudetto statement when Denzel Dumfries rolled home what looked like Inter’s decisive fourth goal in the 53rd minute.
Photo: Reuters
“Today I was really happy to score my first goal and second goal, also against a big team like Inter. I hope to continue like this,” Yildiz told DAZN, adding that he has faith in Juve’s title chances. “We hope always, but the season is still long, we want to give our best and I hope at the end that it’s going to be good.”
Although both teams lost ground on Napoli, it would be champions Inter, in second, who would most feel the sting of the draw after missing a clutch of chances following Dumfries’ strike.
Inter were two ahead thanks to a beautiful strike from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and two Piotr Zielinski penalties, all in the first half, before Dumfries’ low finish.
Photo: AP
They went close to sealing the points through Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella and Lautaro Martinez, but got caught twice on the break by Yildiz, whose brace was also his first goals of the season.
“We deserved to score seven or eight goals against a team which had conceded one in eight games,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said. “You can’t concede four goals from four shots on target... It’ll serve as a lesson for us.”
Juve stay third, a further point off the title pace after showing huge fight to bounce back and take a precious draw from their fierce rivals.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Thiago Motta’s side, missing a host of first-choice players, had already fought back from going behind to Zielinski’s first spot-kick through tap-ins from Dusan Vlahovic and Timothy Weah.
Former Inter midfielder Motta, who won the 2009-2010 UEFA Champions League with the Nerazzurri, got his substitutions right, while Yann Bisseck’s poor performance in place of Benjamin Pavard aided Juve’s stunning comeback.
“We had the right attitude and spirit, and at the end we even tried to get the win,” Motta said. “We need to look at why at times we play brilliantly and in other moments we seem to be dominated by opponents.”
Crisis club AS Roma slumped to a humiliating 5-1 defeat at ACF Fiorentina which left Ivan Juric at risk of the sack barely a month after he replaced Daniele de Rossi in the capital club’s dugout.
Roma are 11th on just 10 points after a horrendous night in Florence in which nothing went right, going two down to strikes from Moise Kean and Lucas Beltran within 17 minutes, and never recovering from that early blow.
The away side were briefly in the game when Manu Kone netted in the 39th minute, but Kean bagged his second of the night moments later.
A miserable evening was completed by Roma youth product Edoardo Bove adding the fourth and Mats Hummels nodding into his own net just four minutes after making his debut for the club from the bench following Mario Hermoso’s sending off.
Roma’s dismal season has only been made worse by rivals SS Lazio’s great form, their latest win a 3-0 thumping of injury-ravaged Genoa.
Lazio are level on 16 points with fourth-placed Fiorentina, Atalanta BC and Udinese, who are all one point behind Juve, after Tijjani Noslin’s jinking run and low finish in the 21st minute was followed up by late strikes from Pedro and Matias Vecino.
Genoa meanwhile are third from bottom after a seven-match winless run in which they have lost five times. They were set to sign Mario Balotelli yesterday in an attempt to solve an injury crisis that has crippled their attack.
Elsewhere, Parma drew 1-1 with Empoli and AC Monza drew 2-2 with Venezia.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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