MILAN: Defending champion Juventus again slipped up in the Serie A title race as it was held to 1-1 by struggling Genoa on Saturday.
Juventus has won just one of its four league matches in 2013. It is six points ahead of Lazio, which lost 1-0 to Chievo Verona, and Napoli, which travels to Parma on Sunday. After a first half entirely devoid of a shot on target, Juventus broke the deadlock 10 minutes after halftime when Fabio Quagliarella tapped in Stephan Lichtsteiners cross. However, Genoa drew level in the 68th minute when former Juventus striker Marco Borriello dove low to head in Juraj Kuckas cross, nine minutes after coming off the bench. Juventus had several chances to snatch all three points, including and substitute Sebastian Giovincos free kick crashing off the left post eight minutes from time. There was late drama as Juventus appealed furiously for a penalty after Andreas Granqvist kicked the ball onto his own hand in stoppage time. The referee waved play on but protests continued after the final whistle, with coach Antonio Conte fuming. I accept it if someone tells me `I made a mistake, I dont accept it when they tell me `I didnt feel like it. This is not football, Conte said. If I hear certain things, `shame on you is the very least I can say. I want irness. The penalty was blatant. Theres nothing to explain or clarify. Everyone saw what happened. I can accept a mistake but not that the referee tells me `I didnt feel like it. The referee behind the goal gave the penalty, but he said he didnt have the heart. It was a positive start for Davide Ballardini, who replaced Luigi Del Neri to become Genoas third coach of the season. Talking about individual incidJuventus draws 1-1 against struggling Genoaents is a great limitation of our football culture, Ballardini said. In that case, we could talk about the Mirko Vucinic handling offence in the first half, Insurance News but wed never hear the end of it. Earlier, Lazio fell to its first defeat in 17 matches in all competitions. Lazio dominated much of the game and Chievo iled to have a shot on target in the first half. However,Insurance knowledge. Chievo scored shortly after the hour mark when Bojan Jokics effort hit the crossbar and Alberto Paloschi tapped in the rebound. Paloschi was involved in a bizarre incident early in the first half after his volley from near the center-circle flew over the bar. Watching the long-range shot, Lazio goalkeeper Federico Marchetti ended up bringing the goals netting down and the match was halted for several minutes. -- AP
New Straits Times reserves the right not to publish offensive or abusive comments and those of hate speech,Free insurance info. harassment, commercial promos and invasion of privacy. Your IP will be logged and may be used to prevent furt1her submission.The views expressed here are that of the members of the public and unless specifically stated are not those of NST.
