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Serie A match report Juventus v Atalanta 19 May 2019

Juventus rallied from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw with top-four hopefuls Atalanta in their penultimate Serie A encounter on Sunday evening.

Massimiliano Allegri made four changes from the side that lost against Roma the last time out, as he named a new back-line of Alex Sandro, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Joao Cancelo.

Atalanta nearly grabbed the lead in the eighth minute through Hans Hateboer who hit the crossbar with a shot from close range after the Old Lady goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had made an initial save on the line to deny Robin Gosens.

Other than the early strike against the woodwork, it was a relatively quiet half until Gian Piero Gasperini's troops finally found the breakthrough 12 minutes before the break courtesy of Josip Ilicic who turned hom Andrea Masiello's cross at the far post.

Duvan Zapata came close to doubling the lead with eight minutes remaining of the first stanza after going clear the box, but Szczesny made a great save towards the bottom corner to keep his side in the game.

The Old Lady looked brighter in the early stages of the second stanza but they could not carve out clear openings, which prompted Allegri throw on Mario Mandzukic for Barzagli just after the hour mark.

Ilicic almost doubled the lead for the visitors 20 minutes before time with a dipping free-kick from outside the box that took a slight deflection from the wall but Szczesny was on hand to keep the champions in the clash with a neat save.

Mandzukic finally levelled matters for Bianconeri with ten minutes remaining after squeezing home a cross at the far post between the legs of Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini to set up a nervy few minutes for the visitors.

However, Marten de Roon had a chance to seal victory for Atalanta in stoppage time but guided his effort wide despite being free on the right side of the box, before Juventus' Federico Bernardeschi was red-carded for serious foul play deep in stoppage time.

Atalanta have the destiny of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands as a point saw them climb to third while Bianconeri clocked 90 points, with one game remaining.

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