ROME: Seydou Keita cancelled out a superb Carlos Tevez free kick as second-placed AS Roma fought back with 10 men for a fiery 1-1 draw at home to leaders Juventus who stayed on course for a fourth successive Serie A title on Monday.

Tevez curled a free-kick over the Roma wall in the 64th minute for his 15th league goal of the season that took him top of the Serie A scoring charts after Vasilios Torosidis was shown a second yellow card for a debatable foul on Arturo Vidal.

But former Barcelona midfielder Keita headed in following a free kick 14 minutes later at the Stadio Olimpico as the teams woke up after a dismal opening hour.

Although the Malian’s equaliser gave Roma — who set a club record sixth straight home draw — a glimmer of hope in the title race, Juventus stayed nine points clear with 13 rounds remaining. “We needed three points and nothing else,” Keita said.

Roma moved four points ahead of third-placed Napoli in the race for a direct Champions League berth.

“I’m happy with what we did in the first 70 minutes and we continued playing well for a while after taking the lead, but after six or seven minutes we stopped playing,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri. “We need to keep our concentration for the entire game.

“The season still has a long way to go and we’re going to have to win more matches, especially on the road. We took a step forward but we’re still far from reaching our goal.”

Roma coach Rudi Garcia was much happier than his opposite number with his side having been ravaged by injuries to key players and only recently welcoming back Ivorian striker Gervinho from the Africa Cup of Nations.

“Our reaction was exceptional, to be one man down and one goal behind, and finish the game like this means that we are alive and shows the squad has personality and character,” said the Frenchman. “Now we’ve got to focus on defending second place.”

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2015

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