MILAN: Juventus were held to a 2-2 draw at Atalanta on Friday after a rare defensive mix-up by the Serie A leaders allowed the hosts to snatch a late equaliser.

Dani Alves appeared to have won the game for Juventus when he headed them in front in the 83rd minute but Remo Freuler pounced to equalise six minutes later as he punished some sloppy defending.

Juventus, who moved nine points clear of AS Roma, have one of the strongest defences in Europe and have conceded only 22 goals in the league all season in 34 games.

Juventus coach Massim­iliano Allegri was more angry at his team for pouring forward to try to grab a late winner than for the earlier mistakes they made.

“We conceded two goals after making mistakes, the sort of mistakes which shouldn’t happen but the lads are human,” he said. “The important thing is to stay calm.

“Once it was 2-2, we charged forward looking for the third and we risked throwing everything away. Points [not just wins] are important as well.”

Fifth-placed Atalanta have been one of the surprise packages in Serie A this season, losing only three times at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia stadium, and they gave Juve a hard time as expected.

Juventus twice escaped after mistakes by defender Giorgio Chiellini set up the hosts but there was no let-off when Andrea Conti forced Alejandro Gomez’s cross over the line on the stroke of halftime.

The Turin side equalised six minutes after halftime when Miralem Pjanic’s free kick flew across the face of the goal and was turned into his own net by Leonardo Spinazzola at the far post.

Atalanta goalkeeper Etrit Berisha twice denied Sami Khedira with excellent saves before Alves got in front of his marker to meet Pjanic’s long ball at the far post with a diving header and give Juventus the lead.

Juve’s usually impregnable defence let them down when Pjanic and Stephan Lichtsteiner collided while trying to clear and the ball ran loose to Freuler.

His first shot was blocked by Gianluigi Buffon but the Swiss forced home the rebound despite the attention of three defenders who were left slumped on the ground.

BLOW TO LEVERKUSEN

LEVERKUSEN: Bayer Leverkusen’s bid to pull away from the Bundesliga’s relegation zone was dealt a humiliating blow when they lost at home to Schalke 4-1 on Friday.

The Defeat increased pressure on coach Tayfun Korkut, who has only one win in eight games since taking over in March from the sacked Roger Schmidt. Leverkusen had been 10th, seven points above the relegation zone, when Schmidt was fired. Now they are 12th, and just four points clear.

Schalke climbed to eighth, three points off the European qualification places.

Both sides have three games left, while all others have four.

Schalke’s Guido Burgstaller scored in the sixth minute, thanks to a brilliant pass from Nabil Bentaleb to Leon Goretzka, who squared the ball.

Leverkusen captain Omer Toprak injured himself trying to prevent the goal and was still off the pitch for treatment when Benedikt Hoewedes made it 2-0 with a header from a corner.

It got worse for the home side when Alessandro Schoepf added another in the 18th.

Leverkusen avoided conceding again before the break, when sporting director Rudi Voeller descended to the changing room to say his mind.

But Burgstaller grabbed his second five minutes afterward, leaving the home fans in stunned silence.

Stefan Kiessling gave them brief reason to cheer when he pulled one back with over 20 minutes remaining.

VILLARREAL DOWN SPORTING GIJON

MADRID: Striker Cedric Bakambu scored twice as Villarreal defeated Sporting Gijon 3-1 in the La Liga on Friday, keeping alive its slim hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

Villarreal were within five points of fourth-place Sevilla and third-place Atletico Madrid, who are level on points.

Sporting were in 18th place in the 20-team standings, at least six points from safety.

Roberto Soldado opened the scoring in the first half and Bakambu added both of his goals early in the second.

Douglas scored near the end for Sporting, who are winless in seven games.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2017