Own goal helps Juventus come from two goals down to draw at lowly Cagliari

CAGLIARI, Italy: A late own goal by defender Alberto Dossena salvaged a 2-2 draw for Juventus at lowly Cagliari in Serie A on Friday after the hosts went two goals up in the first half thanks to penalties.

Juventus, who have yet to seal their return to the Champions League after missing out on the European competitions this season, are third on 64 points after 33 games.

They have won only one of their last seven Serie A games and are five points ahead of fourth-placed Bologna who visit AS Roma, in fifth, on Monday.

“We recovered it but today’s performance must make us think,” coach Massimiliano Allegri told Sky Sport. “You cannot leave a whole first half to the opponent... We missed so many simple things. So many passes.

“After the first half I should have changed them all. Myself included. I saw technical errors that I didn’t want to believe. Then we did well to put it back on its feet... I’ll take the point and the second half.”

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It was far from a dream start for Allegri’s side when Gianluca Gaetano put Cagliari in front in the 30th minute, sending Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny the wrong way after they were awarded a penalty for a Gleison Bremer handball.

The hosts won another penalty when Szczesny attempted to stop the racing forward Zito Luvumbo with a foul, and Yerry Mina converted from the spot again to double their lead six minutes later.

Dusan Vlahovic thought he pulled one back for Juve before the break but his close-range effort was ruled out for offside.

The Serbian striker, however, made no mistake in the second half when he netted a free kick from just outside the box, which was given to Juve for Nahitan Nandez’s foul on Federico Chiesa.

Juventus had 75% possession as the game neared to a close but continued to lack sharpness in attack.

Cagliari, who held title-chasing Inter Milan to a 2-2 draw at the San Siro last weekend, thought they were about to seal the much-needed three points when their defender Dossena levelled for the visitors with an own goal three minutes from the end.

Juve forward Kenan Yildiz sent a long cross inside the box and an unsuccessful clearance by Dossena sent the ball past their keeper Simone Scuffet.

Juventus are now winless in their last six away league games, their longest streak without a win on the road in a single league campaign since May 2010.

They won 12 of their previous 13 matches against Cagliari in Serie A.

Cagliari are 14th with 32 points, five above the relegation zone.