Juventus 1 - 1 Lazio
Tudor 22' (J), Salas 30' (L)

Saturday 11 Nov 2000, kick-off 9:30PM CET

The match between the teams that finished first and second in Serie A last season ended all square with little to separate the teams. Both teams had their chances but it is no surprise that neither side was able to pull away. After a hard fought encounter the teams find themselves on 11 points each.

The Bianconeri took to the pitch determined to turn things around after the midweek disappointment, although their fans weren't going to let them forget that crashing out of Europe in the first round is not what they expect of the 'Old Lady'. The choruses from the fans and placards protesting at the situation were visible from the off, but soon the supporters got caught up with events on the pitch.

Gianluca Pessotto immediately produced difficulties for the Lazio rear guard with his runs up and down the left flank. But the first shot came through Zinedine Zidane, whose 20-yard drive finished inches wide of Juve old boy Angelo Peruzzi's post.

Only a minute later some neat combination play between Salas and Hernan Crespo resulted in a shot at the other end. The Argentine looked certain to score, but the Dutch keeper pushed him wide and in the end the resulting shot from a tight angle failed to cause the Edwin Van der Sar any trouble.

The play swung from one side to the other, but on 22 minutes it was the hosts who took the lead, through an unlikely source. The Croatian defender Igor Tudor managed to get on the end of a corner whipped in by Alex Del Piero and beat Peruzzi.

Before the Bianconeri had time to enjoy their lead the visitors almost drew level through Pavel Nedved, but having scored a goal, Tudor then managed to find himself in the right position to deflect the shot out for a corner.

Six minutes later Sven Goran Eriksson's men brought themselves level through Marcelo Salas. It has been a miserable few days for Van der Sar who, sent-off midweek, must take a good part of the blame for the equaliser. The Chilean's 25-yard drive, though powerful, was straight at the Dutchman. Unfortunately an unhappy bump in the pitch gave the ball too much spin and Van der Sar found himself fumbling the ball into his own net.

It took the Bianconeri some time to recover from the psychological blow, and went close to conceding on a number of occasions. But Van der Sar made up for his mistake by saving any further Juve blushes. In the end the home side finished the half on the up, with Peruzzi having to out do himself to make sure the teams went in at half time all square.

The second half saw Juve come out refreshed from what must have been some motivating words from Carlo Ancelotti. Zizou tried to inspire his team-mates with some imaginative play which saw him put Del Piero and David Trezeguet through on more than one occasion, although Peruzzi was up to everything that was thrown at him.

At the other end Juan Sebastian Veron was doing a similar job as that done by Zidane for Crespo and Salas, although it was once again Nedved who went closest as the Juve back line had difficulty picking up the Czech international's late runs into the box.

In the 58th minute Paolo Montero finally got his long-awaited season's debut, after recovering from groin strain - he came on for Mark Iuliano. This marked the beginning of a flurry of substitutions, with Juve's number 9, Filippo Inzaghi, coming on in place of Trezeguet, Gianluca Zambrotta for Pessotto; while for Lazio Attilio Lombardo and Simone Inzaghi came on for Argentine duo Diego Simeone and Hernan Crespo.

Unfortunately for Juventus the changes didn't produce a goal for the home side, but the combative performance will have given heart to team and fans alike and the point will keep Ancelotti's lads in touch with the top of the table.

Yellow Cards:
Juventus - Ferrara 60', Tudor 70'
Lazio - Nesta 3', Veron

Juventus (3-4-1-2): Van der Sar; Ferrara, Tudor, Iuliano (58 Montero); Conte, Tacchinardi, Davids, Pessotto (74 Zambrotta); Zidane; Trezeguet (59 Inzaghi), Del Piero
Subs - Rampulla, Montero, Paramatti, Bachini, Zambrotta, Inzaghi, Kovacevic

Lazio (4-3-1-2):Peruzzi; Favalli, Nesta, Mihailovic, Pancaro; Baggio, Simeone (73 Lombardo), Nedved; Veron; Salas (87 Ravanelli), Crespo (73 Inzaghi)
Subs - Marchegiani, Negro, Baronio, Inzaghi, Couto, Lombardo, Ravanelli

Referee: Braschi
Attendance: 45,000

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