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Juventus 1-1 Atalanta: Ronaldo misses spot-kick as Pirlo's men are held

Juventus 1-1 Atalanta: Ronaldo misses spot-kick as Pirlo's men are held

Juventus missed the opportunity to crank up the pressure on leaders Milan as Remo Freuler's strike cancelled out Federico Chiesa's opener.

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty as Juventus were held to a 1-1 Serie A draw by Atalanta in Turin on Wednesday. 

Andrea Pirlo's side had looked well on their way to a fifth consecutive win in all competitions when Federico Chiesa scored his first league goal for the club since joining on loan from Fiorentina after 29 minutes. 

Remo Freuler pulled the visitors level with a sumptuous strike in the 57th minute, though, before Ronaldo's dismal spot-kick was kept out by the impressive Pierluigi Gollini four minutes later.

A point lifted the champions up to third, but they could finish the day six points behind leaders Milan should Stefano Pioli's men overcome Genoa. Atalanta, meanwhile, moved up to eighth ahead of Wednesday's late fixtures.

Juve started brightly and should have scored twice inside the opening 15 minutes, but Ronaldo blazed over from close range and Alvaro Morata inexplicably scuffed a backheeled attempt wide with the goal at his mercy. 

Chiesa made up for his team-mates' profligacy shortly before the half-hour mark, collecting Rodrigo Bentancur's pass and whipping a sublime strike into Gollini's top-left corner from 22 yards. 

Wojciech Szczesny denied Duvan Zapata and Ruslan Malinovskiy soon after as an improved Atalanta ultimately fell short of restoring parity before the interval.

Morata fired straight at Gollini immediately after the restart when clean through before Freuler thundered home a spectacular equaliser after 57 minutes, the Switzerland international firing in from 25 yards for his first goal of the season. 

Ronaldo then squandered a golden opportunity to restore Juve's lead, clipping a tame penalty into the arms of Gollini after Chiesa had been fouled in the area, while the Atalanta goalkeeper did wonderfully to deny Morata shortly after.

Szczesny pawed away Cristian Romero's header and Gollini kept out Weston McKennie's powerful drive late on as both sides had to settle for a point. 
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