Juventus did bad business on Sunday afternoon in the battle for the lead in Serie A. The formation of trainer Andrea Pirlo lost a minimal lead against Lazio well in injury time: 1-1. Cristiano Ronaldo once again seemed to be worth gold for Juventus with a goal in the fifteenth minute. In the fourth minute of injury time, Felipe Caicedo signed for the equalizer of the very happy Lazio. Juventus is now third in Serie A, with thirteen points. Leader AC Milan has played three points more and one game less.

In the fifteenth minute Ronaldo was the end station of a smoothly running attack from Juventus. Rodrigo Bentancur played from just outside the penalty area to Juan Cuadrado, who was given some freedom on the right. The hard cross could not be processed by Lazio goalkeeper Pepe Reina, after which Ronaldo was there like the chickens to work the ball from close range into the empty goal. Shortly before the half-time signal, the Portuguese attack leader could have doubled the score for La Vecchia Signora. His curled shot, after another smooth attack from the visitors, however, hit the post, much to Lazio’s relief. The home team was certainly not inferior to Juventus, but goals were missed despite some nice chances.

At Juventus, Paulo Dybala’s reserve role was somewhat striking. The Argentinian forward has scored seven goals against Lazio in Serie A so far. He did not score more often in competition against any other club. Pirlo opted for Álvaro Morata in the front next to Ronaldo on Sunday. Lazio was replaced three times in the 54th minute. Wesley Hoedt was one of the players who made his entrance. The Dutch defender replaced Stefan Daniel Radu in the three-man defense of the Romans. A few minutes after the appearance of Hoedt, Adrien Rabiot combined with Morata, after which the French midfielder emerged in a promising position. His bang was then expertly countered by Reina. The ball reached Ronaldo, but he was whistled back for offside.

In the 74th minute, everything and everyone at Lazio screamed for a penalty kick. A free kick from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic hit Rabiot’s arm, but the ball didn’t hit the spot. The Frenchman held his arm to the body, the verdict was. Shortly after the incident, Ronaldo stepped aside on his own initiative at Juventus. He seemed to be out of shape and Pirlo brought in Dybala as his replacement. Ronaldo got tape around his ankle on the bench at Juventus, but that seemed more of a precaution. The visiting team seemed to hold their own in the final phase, thanks in part to the alert Wojciech Szczesny. The Polish goalkeeper skilfully saved on the bets of Adam Marusic and Milinkovic-Savic. It went completely wrong with the last shot of the game. In the busy penalty area, the ball landed at Caicedo’s feet, who fired the ball from the turn in the bottom right corner.