Toothless Juventus held to a draw away at Sampdoria
The odds were stacked against Sampdoria before they had even kicked a ball. A team that had previously collected just a single point from their first two fixtures across the last four years and one that managed just one shot on target in a 2-0 season-opening loss to Atalanta.
But Marco Giampaolo’s men engineered a gilt-edged chance as early as the fifth minute when Abdelhamid Sabiri slid in a defence-splitting pass for Mehdi Leris, but the Frenchman’s finish was found wanting and Mattia Perin somehow managed to divert the ball onto the crossbar.
This was a chance that set the tone and Sampdoria hit the woodwork again moments later when Dusan Vlahovic hacked at a clearance from a corner, with the Serbian lucky to see his scuff hit the post before going wide.
Juventus have become accustomed to winning their opening two games of the season, having done so eight times over the last 12 campaigns. But Massimiliano Allegri’s injury-hit team struggled to string together any kind of meaningful attacking play until the 63rd minute.
Vlahovic was released down the left before cutting back to Adrien Rabiot who thought he had put Juventus ahead before VAR intervened to rule him offside.
Moise Kean was thrown on in the 77th minute in an attempt to inject some energy into the visitors' attack, but the Old Lady never really looked like scoring - a problem Allegri needs to resolve if his side are to reassert their Serie A supremacy and fight for their first Scudetto in three years.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Abdelhamid Sabiri (Sampdoria)