Juventus draw at rivals Inter

A superb equaliser from Arturo Vidal earned Juventus a 1-1 draw at Inter Milan in an intriguing Derby of Italy clash in Serie A on Saturday.

Walter Mazzari’s Inter took the lead on 73 minutes through Mauro Icardi’s first goal for the club following fine work from Ricky Alvarez.

But the away side equalised two minutes later when Vidal expertly controlled Kwadwo Asamoah’s drilled cross before clipping past Inter keeper Samir Handanovic for his third goal in as many games.

It was the Slovene stopper who preserved a point for Inter with three minutes left when he got down well to Vidal’s close range header, before Mauricio Isla sliced embarrassingly wide from the rebound.

Useful point

Juventus will be happier with the draw, which put both unbeaten sides on seven points from their first three games, after a sluggish second half display.

“I think this match shows that Inter are going to compete at the top of the league this season, and that they’re going to be hard to beat,” said Antonio Conte, who was managing his 100^th Juventus match.

Inter do not have any European distractions this season but Mazzari refused to say whether he thought his side could make a title tilt.

“We’ve done a lot in little time. I don’t want to make predictions because we’re a developing side which is basically starting from zero,” said the Inter boss.

“We have to keep going and then we’ll see. However these boys are surpassing my expectations.”

Despite reigning champions Juventus dominating possession in a tight first half, Inter went close first through Yuto Nagatomo, whose left-foot volley drew a smart reaction save from Gianluigi Buffon.

Juve’s only real chance at goal in the opening period came on the half hour, when Paul Pogba scuffed a close-range volley straight at Handanovic after being expertly picked out by Andrea Pirlo.

Antonio Conte’s side thought they should have been given a penalty in the 18th minute when Arturo Vidal was bundled over by Saphir Taider, but referee Gianluca Rocchi had already whistled for a debatable handball from the Juve midfielder.

The match had been lacking in incident, but exploded into life after Inter took a deserved lead through Icardi, who coolly finished after Alvarez robbed the ball from Giorgio Chiellini and fed the Argentine with a inch-perfect through-ball.

Inter thought they had broken a tired-looking Juve’s back after dominating the second period, but the away side equalised almost immediately through Vidal.