MATCH REPORT: JUVENTUS VS TORINO.

Juventus survives . Leonardo Bonucci with the 89th minute winnner and Winston Mckennie with the equalizer as the Okd Lady survives in the Turino Darby.

Juventus recovered from an awful first half and Nicolas Nkoulou opener, turning it around to beat Torino with Weston McKennie and Leonardo Bonucci headers in a dramatic Derby della Mole.

The Turin Derby found both teams stuttering in Serie A, as the Bianconeri were fresh off a draw with Benevento and the Granata had the worst defensive record in the division. Giorgio Chiellini, Merih Demiral and Gigi Buffon were injured, with Alvaro Morata suspended, so Paulo Dybala stepped in. Toro missed Simone Verdi, Nicola Murru and Daniele Baselli, but coach Marco Giampaolo returned three weeks after his COVID diagnosis.

It was Torino who took the shock lead in the ninth minute. Wilfried Singo earned a corner with a lovely twist and turn, from that set play, Soualiho Meite flicked it on and Nicolas Nkoulou was quickest to react by prodding in from six yards. The Juventus defence was caught napping. It was almost 2-0 soon after, as Simone Zaza sprung the offside trap in midfield and Wojciech Szczesny had to make the save one-on-one.

Andrea Belotti flicked the ball over his marker with a ‘sombrero’ in midfield and sent Karol Linetty clear, but Matthijs de Ligt got there first with a risky last-ditch tackle.

Dybala’s free kick was deflected wide and Leonardo Bonucci couldn’t get enough power or precision to a free header on Rodrigo Bentancur’s set play. Juventus had their first shot on target on 43 minutes, Dybala with a meek effort straight at Salvatore Sirigu.

After Linetty wasted a promising counter-attack, Belotti acrobatically volleyed over the bar. A Ricardo Rodriguez free kick was charged down, but Juventus thought they had equalised on 56 minutes when a corner was cleared to the edge of the area for Juan Cuadrado to blast in.

However, after viewing it on VAR, the referee decided Leonardo Bonucci’s offside position was interfering with play, as he prevented Lyanco from getting to it for an interception.

Juve started pouring forward with desperation, but Chiesa curled off target and then he stung Sirigu’s gloves at the near post with the first genuine threat on 76 minutes.

On the resulting corner, Juve scored, as it as taken short for Cuadrado to sweep in the cross, finding substitute Weston McKennie for a free header from six yards to equalise.

It turned into a siege from then on and Toro confirmed their inability to hold onto leads, conceding more late goals than any other Serie A side this season.

Dybala thought he had to score with a volley from six yards on Ronaldo’s cross, but Lyanco somehow managed to get the block and avoid scoring an own goal in the process.

However, on that corner, Juventus essentially repeated the equaliser to take the lead. It was another short corner, floated Cuadrado cross and Bonucci with the free header from essentially the same position as McKennie. It was redemption for the defender, whose offside position had caused the earlier Cuadrado goal to be disallowed.