Marin penalty helps Cagliari draw at Juventus

TURIN:

Juventus conceded their first Serie A goal this season as a late Razvan Marin penalty snatched a 1-1 draw for visitors Cagliari on Sunday. The draw denied Juventus the chance to move back into second place in the standings, and they are third on 13 points, one behind defending champions Inter Milan in second and two behind leaders Napoli. Cagliari are 15th on six points.

Dusan Vlahovic put Juventus ahead from the penalty spot in the 15th minute and despite dominating for most of the game, the home side were unable to find a second goal, and were made to pay two minutes from time when Marin converted.

Juventus, who had not conceded a goal in their opening six Serie A games, had Francisco Conceicao sent off in the final minutes, after he received a second booking for simulation and Cagliari held on to take an unexpected point away from Turin.

Thiago Motta's side came into the game on the back of a 3-2 Champions League win at RB Leipzig in midweek, where defender Gleison Bremer suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury which will likely keep him out for most of the season.

After Vlahovic stuck his penalty into the bottom corner beyond keeper Simone Scuffet, the Juventus players held aloft Bremer's jersey in a show of solidarity with their teammate.

The penalty was awarded after Sebastiano Luperto was judged to have handled a header by Federico Gatti from a corner, and Vlahovic scored his fifth goal in their last three games in all competitions. Cagliari were happy to hit Juventus on the counter, and minutes after going behind the visitors made a quick break and Roberto Piccoli chose to shoot when a pass to his teammate Gabriele Zappa may have been the better option.

With 12 minutes remaining, Vlahovic was guilty of a horrible miss after Scuffet's save from a Douglas Luiz effort fell to the Serbian unmarked in front of goal, and the striker somehow pulled his shot wide of the post.

It looked like his penalty would be enough to take the three points, but when Piccoli was fouled by Luiz in the box, Marin hammered his spot kick into the top corner, to ruin Juve's perfect defensive start to the season. Both sides went for the winner in added time, with Cagliari's Adam Obert hitting the upright with his shot after Juve went down to 10 men, and Motta will have to be content with remaining unbeaten as Juventus manager after nine games in all competitions.

Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino

Marcus Thuram shot Inter Milan second in Serie A with a hat-trick in Saturday's 3-2 win over 10-man Torino which moved the champions to within two points of league leaders Napoli.

France forward Thuram headed home first-half crosses from Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi before bundling in his third on the hour mark to give Inter a narrow, but deserved win at the San Siro.

Thuram leads the scoring charts in Italy's top flight with seven goals alongside Mateo Retegui, who hit a treble of his own in Atalanta's 5-1 hammering of Genoa earlier on Saturday.

Back to near full strength, after the second string hammered Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Tuesday, Simone Inzaghi's Inter won their third straight match in all competitions since losing the Milan derby last month.

Thuram was involved in everything good Inter did going forward and was also left in agony on the ground by Guillermo Maripan's awful tackle in the 20th minute which left Torino a man down.

The 27-year-old could easily have been seriously injured but instead he punished Torino five minutes later with the first of two almost identical headers, the second of which came in the 35th minute.

Duvan Zapata, who was later stretchered off with what could be a serious knee injury, pulled a goal back for sixth-placed Torino seconds later after poor defending by Yann Bisseck.

But Thuram re-established Inter's two-goal lead when he pounced on goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic's failure to hold Lautaro Martinez's header.

Inter have been less solid than when they romped to the Scudetto last season and Hakan Calhanoglu gave Torino some hope with five minutes remaining by bringing down Adam Masina and allowing Nikola Vlasic to cut the deficit from the penalty spot.

However Inter held out for a win which will leave them hot on Napoli's trail as their players head off to their respective national teams. REUTERS