Juve fail to beat Bordeaux at home

Juventus 1 Bordeaux 1

Juventus and Bordeaux shared the spoils with a draw on a rain-drenched evening at the Stadio Olimpico tonight.

Vincenzo Iaquinta gave the home side the lead in the 63rd minute, but Jaroslav Plasil equalised with a controversial strike 15 minutes from time to earn the French champions a point in Turin.

On a slippery pitch, which cut up badly as the game went on, there was little creativity between two sides who appeared happy to settle for a draw.

The French champions started brightly in torrential conditions in northern Italy.

Former AC Milan midfielder Yoann Gourcuff was keen to show his Italian opponents what Serie A is missing since he was sold by the Rossoneri to Bordeaux and he created the first chance of the game for himself in the second minute.

He tore through the Juventus defence, but was unable to beat Gianluigi Buffon from an angle as the home goalkeeper made a one-handed save to deny him.

Juve’s one and only chance of a tight first half fell to Iaquinta, but he was unable to make a good enough contact with a long ball forward which bounced away from him and into the arms of Cedric Carrasso.

The home side began gaining momentum in the second half after Iaquinta failed with two attempts to beat Carrasso in the 51st minute.

The Bordeaux goalkeeper was forced to leave the field shortly afterwards due to injury with Ulrich Rame taking over.

Fabio Grosso then made a telling intervention to cut out a cross from the left to prevent Marouane Chamakh from having a simple tap-in.

At the other end, Grosso tested Rame with a low free-kick whipped round the outside of the wall which the stand-in goalkeeper pushed wide.

However, Rame did not look so good on the goal which gave Juventus the lead in the 63rd minute.

Fabio Cannavaro won possession in the midfield and sent a perfectly-weighted ball into the path of Iaquinta, who did not even need a touch before drilling his shot inside Rame’s near post from 18 yards out.

The Bianconeri pushed forward in numbers in search of a second goal with Rame making a fine reaction save to deny Amauri in the 72nd minute.

Bordeaux then equalised against the run of play and with a touch of fortune in the 75th minute.

Plasil stole in at the far post to push the ball over the line, however he appeared to be in an offside position when Fernando Menegazzo flicked a left-wing free-kick on with his head.

Juve still had the chance to win it with two minutes remaining when Claudio Marchisio struck the crossbar when he should have done better from Caceres’ cross, but it was not the Bianconeri’s night as they had to settle for a draw in front of their own fans.