Cristiano Ronaldo off target as Juventus drop points against Atalanta

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as champions Juventus squandered the chance to move second in Serie A on Wednesday with a 1-1 draw at home against Atalanta

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as champions Juventus squandered the chance to move second in Serie A on Wednesday with a 1-1 draw at home against Atalanta. Juventus picked up their sixth draw in 12 games, to sit third, four points behind leaders AC Milan who were held 2-2 at Genoa on Wednesday.

"You have to take these games home," said Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo. "We had many opportunities and we weren’t able to close it. When you leave the game in the balance anything can happen."

Federico Chiesa curled in a powerful shot to put Juventus ahead before the half hour mark in Turin. But Atalanta hit back with Remo Freuler grabbing the equaliser 12 minutes after the break shortly after captain Papu Gomez came off the bench.

Ronaldo, who had fired over the target in the fifth minute, missed a rare penalty after an hour when Chiesa was fouled. The Portuguese striker’s weak effort was easily saved by Atalanta keeper Pierluigi Gollini.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is currently joint top of the Serie A scorers charts alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic on 10 goals. Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku scored from the penalty spot as Inter Milan battled past title rivals Napoli 1-0 to move one point behind Serie A leaders and city rivals AC Milan.

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