Juventus’ frustrating season continued as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Bologna, a result that set an unwanted record for the club.
The Bianconeri’s ninth draw in their first 15 Serie A matches of the campaign marked the most in their history, surpassing the previous record of eight draws set in 1965-66 and 1980-81.
Samuel Mbangula and Teun Koopmeiners snatched a stoppage-time draw for Juventus after trailing 2-0 at home to Thiago Motta’s Bologna, marking their ninth stalemate in the last 13 rounds of Serie A.
The Bianconeri’s injury crisis continued, with Weston McKennie, Nico Gonzalez, Douglas Luiz, Arek Milik, Gleison Bremer, and Juan Cabal all sidelined. However, Dusan Vlahovic, Nicolò Savona, and Vasilije Adzic returned to the team.
Bologna, in strong form having won four of their last five matches, also welcomed back Tommaso Pobega from suspension, though Riccardo Orsolini, Michel Aebischer, Charalampos Lykogiannis, Oussama El Azzouzi, and Nicolò Cambiaghi were injured.
The game began with early drama as Andrea Cambiaso had to leave the pitch after a tackle from Dan Ndoye, while Ndoye himself came close to scoring twice, first striking the post and later seeing a free-kick deflected onto the roof of the net.
Bologna continued to press and took the lead in the 30th minute when Ndoye latched onto a slide-rule pass from Emil Holm and smashed a powerful shot past Mattia Perin at the near post.
Juventus struggled to find their rhythm. Nicolò Fagioli blasted over from 14 yards, and Vlahovic’s volley was parried by Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski. Matters worsened early in the second half when Motta was shown a straight red card for dissent.
Shortly after, Bologna doubled their lead in the 53rd minute, with Santiago Castro’s back-heel flick sending Pobega through on goal. The midfielder then dinked the ball over Perin for a well-taken finish.
Juventus responded in the 62nd minute when Koopmeiners scored his first goal for the club, firing home from 12 yards after Francisco Conceicao’s assist.
Despite a penalty appeal from Mbangula in the 82nd minute, Juventus continued to push for the equalizer. In the dying moments of the match, Vlahovic found Mbangula on the edge of the box, and the 21-year-old curled a stunning right-footed shot into the top corner to level the score at 2-2.
Juventus player ratings against Bologna:
- Perin: 6
- Danilo: 7.5
- Gatti: 5.5
- Kalulu: 6
- Cambiaso: –
- Locatelli: 5.5
- Fagioli: 6
- Conceicao: 7
- Koopmeiners: 8
- Weah: 6
- Vlahovic: 6.5
Substitutes:
- Jonas Rouhi : 6.5 (14′)
- Khéphren Thuram-Ulien: 6 (64′)
- Kenan Yildiz: 6.5 (64′)
- Nicolo Savona: 6.5 (80′)
- Samuel Mbangula: 7 (80′)
