Unlucky Juventus escape being beaten by already relegated Salernitana

The crossbar was Salernitana’s best friend as they held Juventus to a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Stadium this evening.

Already relegated, Salernitana had nothing to lose as they faced Juventus, knowing they could further derail the Bianconeri’s seasonal objectives.

But Juve started as the better team, and Dusan Vlahovic should have opened the scoring after 8 minutes, but Vincenzo Fiorillo punched the Serbian’s shot onto the crossbar.

That was a good sign, and Juve fans wanted their team to take the lead as early as possible.

The Bianconeri continued to look for that goal, but Salernitana looked impressively solid at the back, leaving their fans wondering why they hadn’t defended like this all season.

As Juve saw their attacks either thwarted or the wrong pass made, Salernitana surprisingly took the lead after 27 minutes through Niccolo Pierozzi. Szczesny should have saved that.

Junior Sambia could have extended their lead five minutes later, but Szczesny denied him. Juve continued to struggle in the game, and Gleison Bremer tried his luck from long range, but his shot went wide.

Just before half-time, Andrea Cambiaso was lucky not to draw Juve level as his shot hit the crossbar. It was a very good effort.

At half-time, Max Allegri made three changes, bringing on Fabio Miretti, Federico Chiesa, and Samuel Iling Junior.

Iling-Junior wanted to make an instant impact and drilled a shot just after the break, but Vincenzo Fiorillo was on hand to make the save.

But Salernitana had the next close chance to score as Federico Fazio’s header was just inches over the bar.

On the hour mark, Vlahovic had his best chance of the match, but the Serbian somehow shot wide of the left post from inside the Salernitana box.

Two minutes later, Chiesa thought he had opened the scoring after his shot beat the goalkeeper, but a Salernitana defender made a goal-line clearance.

Gatti was the next Juventus player to get a chance to score as the Bianconeri chased the game, but despite rising highest to meet the ball, he headed well off target.

After 76 minutes, Juve still hadn’t scored, and they hadn’t come close again, which forced Max Allegri into making more changes. Kenan Yildiz and Arkadiusz Milik were substituted into the match.

Four minutes later, Milik could have drawn Juve level, but Fiorillo was on hand to save his towering header.

With two minutes of normal time left, Miretti was the next unlucky Juve player as his rocket of a shot smashed against the crossbar. Could Juve get a goal in this game?

In the first minute of added time, the Bianconeri answered that question as Adrien Rabiot slid in to score from Manuel Locatelli’s flick after a corner.

Juve now wanted to find the winner, so they were back on top and controlling the game in search of the next goal. But when the next chance came, Miretti shot wide.

Then Salernitana broke free for what could have been a heartbreaker for Juventus, but somehow, they missed with the last kick of the game, and Juve missed another chance to win.