TURIN: Juventus were held to a goalless draw by Roma on Sunday, ending Thiago Motta’s perfect start as coach of the Serie A giants. A match short on action and goalmouth incident left Juve on seven points from their first three matches of the new campaign. Motta’s team are behind champions and league leaders Inter Milan on goals scored after a much less inspiring performance than the two three-goal wins which preceded it.

“It was an even match and the right result,” said Motta to Sky Sport. “We’re only on our third game and today we played a team which is hard to play against, with a good coach and good players... There are lots of things we can improve. “It’s very early in the season, let’s see where we are at the business end of the season, for now it’s too early to talk about our objectives for the season.” A draw at Juve, where Roma traditionally struggle, gives coach Daniele De Rossi some breathing room for the international break after a difficult opening fortnight.

His team showed a level of defensive discipline which had been lacking in their first two fixtures of the campaign but offered very little else for fans to cheer about. The closest the away side game to scoring was a speculative distance effort in the final minute from full-back Angelino which whistled past the post. “We’re under a lot of pressure for right now and it was important to get away from here with a point,” said De Rossi.

“This is a good starting point. It wasn’t the best performance as we could have done better with the ball, but Juve brought on some brilliant players in the second half and we held out.” Earlier Fiorentina came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 thanks to Moise Kean and debutant Robin Gosens, who looped in his new team’s equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Como fell to a 1-0 defeat at Udinese - who won of four teams level with Inter - after Patrick Cutrone smashed a stoppage-time penalty wide, leaving Cesc Fabregas’ promoted side bottom of the division on a single point. — AFP