Atalanta draw edges Juventus closer to the Italian title
Juventus squandered their chance to virtually wrap up the Italian title on Friday night following a 2-2 draw at Atalanta. The stalemate furnished Juve with a nine point lead over second placed Roma who play Lazio on Sunday afternoon.
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However a victory for Roma would keep them in touching distance of the pacesetters with four games of the season remaining.
Juve travelled to Atalanta well aware of the hosts' reputation for upstaging giants. During the season at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium, Atalanta have beaten Napoli, Roma and Inter Milan.
Juve appeared to be on course for a win when defender Dani Alves headed home after 83 minutes to make it 2-1 to the visitors.
But in the dying seconds Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler bundled past Gianluigi Buffon at the second attempt to snatch a share of the spoils.
Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri said that Atalanta were like Monaco - Juve's next opponents in the Uefa Champions League semi-final.
"A win at Atalanta would have given us a fair boost in the championship stakes," Allegri told Mediaset. "But now, we have to focus on Wednesday's match. Monaco are a side that are similar to Atalanta, so we'll have to be good.
"In the second half we suffered from two counter-attacks that were created by our mistakes and that means the game was going from end to end," added Allegri.
"We need to be mindful of those mistakes. With a minute and a half to play we were leading. A team like Juve shouldn't be conceding a goal a minute from the end."
Allegri steered Juventus to the 2015 Champions League final where they lost to Barcelona. He is trying to lead Juve to an unprecedented sixth consecutive title.
"We knew playing here at Atalanta never an easy affair. But we'll learn from our mistakes and be mindful for Wednesday's match," Allegri said.
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