Serie A | Fiorentina 1-1 Juventus: Mandragora screamer cancels out Kostic

Rolando Mandragora’s screamer cancelled out the Filip Kostic opener, as Luciano Spalletti’s Juventus were held to a third straight draw and Fiorentina are still without a Serie A victory.

Both clubs fired their coaches this month after dismal starts to the season, as Paolo Vanoli made his debut in a 2-2 draw with Genoa and had Moise Kean back, but still missed Robin Gosens, Tariq Lamptey and Christian Kouame. Luciano Spalletti was coming off back-to-back draws against Sporting CP and Torino, with Lloyd Kelly returning to defence, though Daniele Rugani joined Gleison Bremer, Arek Milik and Carlo Pinsoglio on the treatment table.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

There was controversy in the opening minutes when Vlahovic surprised Pablo Mari with a cheeky back-heel flick and turned to run into the box, going down for a penalty. However, the referee changed his mind following a VAR On-Field Review, noting that it was a mutual shirt tug if anything started by the Juventus striker.

Following this, the ugly discriminatory chants from sections of the Fiorentina ultras towards the Serbian intensified to the degree that the referee temporarily halted play while a statement was read out.

Moise Kean came so close to an opener for the hosts on 25 minutes, taking on makeshift defender Teun Koopmeiners for a ferocious strike that bounced off the underside of the crossbar.

Rolando Mandragora’s free kick curled wide of the near post, but Vlahovic had a huge opportunity when he flicked on a long Michele Di Gregorio ball with his back to goal, turned Pablo Mari and went clear, going around David De Gea, as Marin Pongracic did just enough to send him wide so he could only hit the side-netting.

Juventus did take the lead deep into first half stoppages when a series of attempts and crosses were not cleared effectively, eventually it fell to Kostic for a powerful left-foot strike from well outside the area into the far bottom corner.

Dodo went off with a muscular problem at half-time and Fiorentina got back on level terms thanks to an absolute screamer from ex-Juventus midfielder Mandragora, who gathered the Kean knockdown and hit the unstoppable finish into the far top corner from distance.

It was end to end, Manuel Locatelli testing De Gea before Di Gregorio got down for a fingertip save to push the precise Kean daisy-cutter round the base of the far post, then it pinballed around on the resulting corner with nobody able to bundle over the line.

Fabio Miretti hit the side-netting on a Koopmeiners through ball and Francisco Conceicao’s angled drive was denied by a Pablo Mari block, before Weston McKennie’s header was acrobatically pushed over the bar by De Gea.

Juve pushed more in the closing stages, but it was a third consecutive stalemate for Spalletti in all competition.

Kostic 45+6 (J), Mandragora 48 (F)