Serie A: Juventus title hopes stunted with derby draw, fresh injuries

Juventus' faint Serie A title hopes were further dented by local rivals Torino, who fought their way back to earn a deserved 1-1 draw in Friday night's derby. An Andrea Belotti volley in the second half cancelled out Matthijs de Ligt's early header, leaving Juve fourth in the table on 47 points after 26 games, eight behind leaders AC Milan, who visit bottom side Salernitana on Saturday. Fifth-placed Atalanta, on 44 points after 24 games, have the chance to leapfrog Juve when they visit Fiorentina on Sunday. To make matters worse for Massimiliano Allegri's side, defender Daniele Rugani was injured in the warm-up and then his replacement Luca Pellegrini was taken off at halftime. Forward Paulo Dybala then had to be substituted early in the second half, deepening Juve's injury troubles four days before visiting Villarreal in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

Juve are already missing highly experienced centrebacks Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci through injury, while midfielder Federico Chiesa is out for the rest of the season after tearing knee ligaments in January. Dutch defender De Ligt headed Juve in front in the 13th minute, arriving at the far post to connect with a Juan Cuadrado free kick. Torino coped well with falling behind and matched their more illustrious neighbours for intensity and intelligence and went on to outplay them in the second half. After coming close to scoring on a few occasions they found an equaliser when Josip Brekalo raced to the byline and launched a cross back into the box which star striker Belotti converted on the volley. Torino continued to cause the hosts problems until late in the game but were forced to defend with their backs against the wall deep in stoppage