Juventus' Serie A title hopes took another blow on Wednesday as Atalanta held Andrea Pirlo's men to a 1-1 draw at Juventus Stadium.
It gave AC Milan a chance to open up a six-point lead in Genoa but they were unable to take it with a 2-2 draw -- twice coming from behind.
Federico Chiesa opened the scoring for Juve after 29 minutes when he was teed up Rodrigo Betancur but Remo Freuler levelled after 57 minutes and the hosts could not find a way past Pierluigi Gollini in goal as Cristiano Ronaldo had a 61st minute penalty saved.
The result keeps Juve in the European positions but the gap behind Milan will feel like it is widening -- even if Stefano Pioli's men did not take their chance to stretch their lead.
Here are some takeaways from the clash in Turin.
JUVE REMAIN UNBEATEN BUT AT WHAT COST?
This was Juve's sixth draw of the season and although they remain unbeaten, they have now dropped 12 points.
The Old Lady have looked increasingly less dominant over the past few seasons and this run of form suggests that any potential Serie A title win will come by a very small margin -- if it comes at all.
Perhaps most worrying for Juve is that five of those six ties have finished 1-1 which indicates an inability to kill teams off.
The likes of Benevento, Hellas Verona and Crotone have all taken points off of Juve this campaign and that is something that Pirlo and his players must address if they want to avoid Milan -- or somebody else -- creating an insurmountable lead.
SPIRITED ATALANTA
Although they are not performing as well this term as they did last, Atalanta still have a solid group of talented players that appear to still be united behind their coach.
Papu Gomez and Gian Piero Gasperini might not be on talking terms after their clash but the rest of squad stayed focused and fought back from a goal down to get the result in Turin.
Gollini will take plenty of plaudits for keeping Ronaldo out from the spot but it was also a team effort to remain solid to secure the result.
RONALDO NOT SPOT-ON
While he still leads Serie A for goals with 10 to his name, Ronaldo's penalty miss will be of frustration to Juve as he passed up a match-winning situation with it.
With so many draws already, it is the perfect example of the sort of moment that can turn one point into three -- moments that have been missing too often for the champions domestically this campaign.
Considering his status within the squad as the star man, Juve are entitled to expect more from the Portugal international in moments like those -- certainly no mistakes.
TITLE RACE OPEN
With Juve dropping more points and likely to keep doing so in their current form, it opens up the Serie A title race to others and creates a group of six realistic candidates at this moment in time.
If the chasing pack can take their chances, then it will not only be leaders Milan that Juve are worrying about losing out to and Inter Milan closing the gap on AC at Napoli's expense makes it clear that. they are also a title threat.
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December 17, 2020 at 03:53AM
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Juventus vs. Atalanta score: Ronaldo missed penalty means more dropped points for defending champions - CBS Sports
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