Vlahović to the rescue as Juventus snatches 1-1 draw against Bologna amid jeers
MILAN (AP) — Juventus needed Dušan Vlahović’s late goal to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to Bologna in Serie A on Sunday.
Lewis Ferguson had given Bologna the lead in the 24th minute and the Bianconeri were booed off the field at halftime. But Vlahović, who earlier had a goal ruled out for offside, headed in the equalizer with 10 minutes remaining.
Defending champion Napoli was playing at home to Sassuolo later Sunday, while last season’s runner-up Lazio welcomed newly promoted Genoa.
After a difficult time last season, Juventus had kicked off the new campaign with a 3-0 win at Udinese. It was a second tricky test for Bologna, which lost to AC Milan in its opener.
The visitors took the lead after Joshua Zirkzee drew two defenders towards him and managed to knock the ball forward to Ferguson, who had time to control and fire into the far bottom corner.
After the jeers at halftime, Juventus appeared to have more impetus in the second period and thought it had taken the lead seven minutes after the break but Vlahović’s strike was ruled out as Adrien Rabiot was in an offside position.
Bologna thought it should have had a penalty in the 70th minute when forward Dan Ndoye collided with Juventus winger Samuel Iling-Junior but the referee waved away their protests. Bologna coach Thiago Motta was booked for dissent while one of his staff was sent off.
Iling-Junior was involved in the equalizer 10 minutes later with a cross from the right that Vlahović headed into the bottom right corner.
ANOTHER COMEBACK
Lecce came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Fiorentina.
The home side seemed firmly in control at the break following goals from Nicolás González and Alfred Duncan, who had also hit the post.
But Hamza Rafia pulled one back for Lecce at the start of the second half. Nikola Krstović replaced him in the 73rd minute and netted the equalizer three minutes later.
Lecce scored two late goals last weekend to fight back from a goal down to upset Lazio 2-1.
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