Crotone 1-1 Juventus: Morata to the rescue while Chiesa sees red in debut

Alvaro Morata-Juventus

Juve were held to a draw by Crotone.

Juventus have been held to 1-1 draw against the newly promoted Crotone in Serie A at Ezio Scida stadium.

The hosts had an early lead after they were awarded the penalty for Bonucci’s foul on Reca. Nwankwo converted it successfully after sending Buffon the other way.

Alvaro Morata equalized for Juventus, getting assisted by debutant Federico Chiesa. The Spaniard striker dropped deeper to lay off a pass to Dejan Kulusevksi, who then found Federico Chiesa on the right flank. The Italian winger drilled in a low cross to a tap-in goal for Morata.

Not long after, Morata threaded a brilliant pass to another debutant Manolo Portanova, whose shot was denied by Crotone goalkeeper Alex Cordaz.

The hosts, in turn, tried to restore the lead  before the half time whistle but it was to little effect.

Chiesa had his dream debut cut short after he was sent off for a foul around the hour mark. He stomped on the sliding Cigarini unintentionally but it couldn’t prevent him from seeing a red card. Chiesa looked dejected after the call.

The Bianconeri continually pushed for the equalizer but ended up being unfortunate. Morata had a shot hit the post before it went to the keeper while a goal was reversed by VAR later.

Andrea Pirlo fielded in a different line up to their last match against Roma to cope up with the absence of Weston McKennie and Cristiano Ronaldo, who had tested positive for COVID.

A win would have been cherry on the cake for Juve but it was still good to see the youngsters plying their trade.