TURIN, Italy — Juventus’ hopes of winning the Italian Serie A title ended after a 0-0 draw at city rivals Torino.
Juventus is third in the standings on 63 points from 32 games with six matches left to play, 19 behind leaders Inter Milan.
Record 36-times Italian champions Juve won the title nine times in a row from 2012-2020 but have not lifted the trophy since.
“It’s a point… we accept it,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told a news conference according to Reuters.
“There’s always the disappointment of not having scored three, but if we hadn’t lost (more) games we would have been in a better place. We take it, we have to improve things.”
They remained winless on the road since late January, when they beat Lecce 3-0, and have gone five away games in a row without victory in a single domestic season for the first time since 2010.
Dusan Vlahovic wasted two chances to give Juve the lead in the first half, hitting the post from point blank range and putting Torino keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to work with a shot into the far corner.
The game turned into a more lively derby when Torino forward Duvan Zapata thought he had broken the deadlock for the hosts one minute after the interval, but his effort was ruled out for a foul in the buildup.
Torino continued to press as the second half wore on and Juventus keeper Wojciech Szczesny was forced to dive to save an Antonio Sanabria header.
The Polish keeper needed treatment minutes from fulltime, when Torino defender Adam Masina crashed into him following a corner, but managed to complete the game.
Juventus ended their longest ongoing streak of scoring away goals against a single opponent having netted in each of their previous 15 games at Torino in Serie A.
Juve next will travel to 14th-placed Cagliari on Friday before hosting second-placed AC Milan.
Ninth-placed Torino, on 45 points, is now the team with the most Serie A clean sheets at home (11) this season.
Substitute Santiago Pierotti had an immediate impact as he helped Lecce snatch a 1-0 win over Empoli in a crucial relegation battle.
Pierotti was on the field for only seconds before the Argentine forward beat Empoli defender Sebastian Walukiewicz inside the area and rolled the ball across for Nicola Sansone to tap into an empty net for a last-minute winner.
Empoli had an early goal disallowed in an unusual incident. Alberto Cerri scored but, after a review, the referee ruled visiting goalkeeper Elia Caprile handled the ball outside the area just before he launched the attack.
Lecce inched six points above the relegation zone in the first of a several crucial fixtures as it plays teams immediately below it in three of its next four matches.
Empoli remained two points above the drop zone after its fifth loss in six matches.
