Juventus's title hopes suffer blow in 1-1 draw with struggling Lecce
TURIN, Italy, Jan 3 : Juventus's Serie A title hopes were dealt a hammer blow when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by relegation battling Lecce on Saturday, with the hosts coming from behind but failing to win after Jonathan David had a penalty saved.
Juventus remain fifth in the standings on 33 points, five off leaders AC Milan who have played a game less. Lecce are 16th on 17 points, five points above the relegation zone.
The home side put in a dominant display but wasted a host of opportunities and, after ending 2025 with three successive league wins, the New Year began in disappointing fashion for Luciano Spalletti's men.
"We created spaces, we put in crosses, balls played through into the box," Spalletti told DAZN.
"But we never found the player able to finish it off inside the area."
Juve's first chance came from a corner when David's glancing header was saved by the foot of keeper Wladimiro Falcone who watched the ball bounce off the post and roll back along the line safely into his hands.
Falcone made another save to tip Andrea Cambiaso's low shot around for a corner and Manuel Locatelli's first-time effort from the edge of the area went narrowly wide.
Kenan Yildiz played a pass to the unmarked Cambiaso who blasted over from close range as Lecce continued to hang on.
The opening half was in added time when Lecce stunned the hosts. A wayward pass from Cambiaso was pounced on by Lameck Banda who danced his way past two opponents before rifling a shot into the corner.
Juventus equalised four minutes after the break, with Yildiz's shot taking a deflection and the ball fell to Weston McKennie who fired past Falcone.
DAVID PENALTY MISS
Lecce faced wave after wave of Juventus attacks and the visitors conceded a penalty for Mohamed Kaba's handball in blocking David's shot.
David scored on his Juventus debut on the opening day of the season but has failed to add to his tally in the league.
"It's disappointing he isn't confident enough at the moment to show all his quality, but he can be a top finisher in the box," Spalletti told DAZN before kickoff.
Yildiz handed the ball to David but the Canadian forward sent a tame Panenka-style effort down the middle and the diving Falcone had time to raise his foot to make the save.
"David is a penalty taker, he strikes them very well and he made the right choice," Spalletti said.
"Penalties get missed. If someone else had missed, it would have been the same. Next time I'll probably step in too, because I like making decisions, but these things happen during a match.
"It wasn't a favour just to let him score, he has to score because he's the penalty taker."
Falcone denied David a late winner with a fine save, Yildiz hit the post in added time and the final whistle was met with a chorus of boos from the Juventus fans.
