As expected, neither side gave the other an inch of turf in the early moments, and it took 17 minutes for this Turin derby to witness its first effort on target, coming the way of Torino’s Nikola Vlasic, who saw a shot blocked after a foray forward. Juventus’ response was initially tepid, but Ricardo Rodriguez gave the ball away and allowed Vlahovic to dribble into the box, forcing Vanja Milinkovic-Savic into a low save. Two rebound shots from distance came straight back at him, as Juventus finally signalled their intent.
The second half began with a similar sense of mutual caution, but Manuel Locatelli was close to an opener five minutes after the restart, seizing a knock-down ball on the edge of the box and firing into the turf. Only the fingertips of Milinkovic-Savic kept the ball out of the top-left corner, as the importance of striking first continued to grow interminably.
At the other end, Juventus seldom looked troubled, but Vlasic saw a low shot to the bottom-right corner saved well by Wojciech Szczesny just before the hour mark, and Valentino Lazaro saw a shot destined high for the opposite end of the net saved well just moments later. Milinkovic-Savic again stole his custodian counterpart’s thunder in the 73rd minute, palming a close-range header from Vlahovic behind.
However, the reprieve was but temporary, with the Serbian rising to receive Juan Cuadrado’s outswinging corner via a Danilo flick-on and steering home at the back post. This left Il Toro with no choice but to charge forward, but Juventus’ defence held firm to restrict their rivals to mere half-chances as the minutes trickled by, with the full-time whistle extending the Bianconeri’s impressive run against Torino to just one defeat in 35 competitive meetings.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)