Juventus were made to sweat in a frustrating hard-fought draw with Cagliari at the Juventus Stadium on Sunday.
Juventus were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by mid-table Cagliari at the Juventus stadium on Sunday, a result which allowed them to temporarily overtake AC Milan at the top of Serie A.
Despite the result, Juventus made history in becoming the first team to remain unbeaten in 18 consecutive matches. The previous record also set by the Bianconeri was of 17 matches and dates back to the 1949/50 season.
It seemed that Juventus would cruise to a comfortable victory over Cagliari, when in the 7th minute Mirko Vucinic put them ahead with a close-range finish after good lead-up work from Stephan Lichtsteiner.
Juventus kept at the attack as they searched for a second goal, and it almost arrived in the 24th minute, when Claudio Marchisio caught out Arturo Vidal with a clever flick, but the Chilean midfielder failed to beat Cagliari goalkeeper Michael Agazzi with the goal at his mercy.
After that missed opportunity La Vecchia Signora seemed to lose their momentum, as the visitors came more into the game. Cagliari had two penalty claims turned down before the half-time break.
Three minutes into the restart Andrea Cossu drew the Sardinians level when he took advantage of a poor clearance from the Juventus defense by firing an unstoppable drive past a hapless Gianluigi Buffon.
Juventus, who have yet to suffer a defeat in the Serie A this season, struggled to find their form, and had to wait until the 76th minute to inflict their first goal-scoring opportunity of the second half upon the Cagliari goal. Vucinic was sent through on goal, but the striker fired the ball way over the crossbar.
Towards the end of the game La Vecchia Signora threw everything that they had at the Cagliari goal, and almost went ahead with a header from substitute Alessandro Del Piero, but it was kept out by an inspired Agazzi.
Juve's final opportunity of the game fell to another substitute, Milos Krasic, but the Serbian winger shot agonisingly wide from the edge of the area, to the dismay of the capacity-crowd.
While the result saw Juventus move into first-place of the Serie A standings, with 38 points, they could be leapfrogged by AC Milan later tonight if the Rossoneri manage to beat Inter Milan in the eagerly-awaited Derby della Madonnina.
Despite the result, Juventus made history in becoming the first team to remain unbeaten in 18 consecutive matches. The previous record also set by the Bianconeri was of 17 matches and dates back to the 1949/50 season.
It seemed that Juventus would cruise to a comfortable victory over Cagliari, when in the 7th minute Mirko Vucinic put them ahead with a close-range finish after good lead-up work from Stephan Lichtsteiner.
Juventus kept at the attack as they searched for a second goal, and it almost arrived in the 24th minute, when Claudio Marchisio caught out Arturo Vidal with a clever flick, but the Chilean midfielder failed to beat Cagliari goalkeeper Michael Agazzi with the goal at his mercy.
After that missed opportunity La Vecchia Signora seemed to lose their momentum, as the visitors came more into the game. Cagliari had two penalty claims turned down before the half-time break.
Three minutes into the restart Andrea Cossu drew the Sardinians level when he took advantage of a poor clearance from the Juventus defense by firing an unstoppable drive past a hapless Gianluigi Buffon.
Juventus, who have yet to suffer a defeat in the Serie A this season, struggled to find their form, and had to wait until the 76th minute to inflict their first goal-scoring opportunity of the second half upon the Cagliari goal. Vucinic was sent through on goal, but the striker fired the ball way over the crossbar.
Towards the end of the game La Vecchia Signora threw everything that they had at the Cagliari goal, and almost went ahead with a header from substitute Alessandro Del Piero, but it was kept out by an inspired Agazzi.
Juve's final opportunity of the game fell to another substitute, Milos Krasic, but the Serbian winger shot agonisingly wide from the edge of the area, to the dismay of the capacity-crowd.
While the result saw Juventus move into first-place of the Serie A standings, with 38 points, they could be leapfrogged by AC Milan later tonight if the Rossoneri manage to beat Inter Milan in the eagerly-awaited Derby della Madonnina.
