A spectacular bicycle kick from Joao Pedro pulled Cagliari level in the 1-1 draw with Torino on Monday night. So, among other Serie A football news, Cagliari equalized 1-1 after their own goal and cancelled out Antonio Sanabria’s (technically).
Walter Mazzarri’s men have 11 points from 16 games, whereas Ivan Juric’s men are stuck at 13th in the table.
Serie A Football News – Cagliari Equalized 1-1 after Their Own Goal
The First Half
The Rossoblu started the game with enthusiasm and pace, but just not the best decisions going forward.
In fact, both teams struggled to create any massive chances; so much so that the opening goal was a fluke.
Torino took the lead in the first half as Alessio Cragno shot a rebound after Tommaso Pobega’s long-range effort.
Antonio Sanabria was first to reach the loose ball and Cragno saved another attempt from the Torino forward.
However, the ball hit Andrea Carboni, who accidently sent in an own goal. Sanabria eventually won the goal, as he had seemingly had the final touch before the ball crossed the line.
Meanwhile, Cagliari had a few chances but did not properly challenge Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
The Second Half
But Mazzarri’s men came out after the break with more determination and Joao Pedro was quick to reach Milinkovic-Savic. But the latter pulled off a great save form the close-range header.
Joao Pedro could have done better, as his finish was well within reach of the Serbian goalkeeper.
And indeed, only a few seconds later, the Brazilian equalized 1-1 for Cagliari with an exquisite finish.
The captain acrobatically, with a bicycle kick after only 53 minutes, gave the Rossoblu a needed equaliser and new hope.
But Torino then regained control over ball possession, though neither side created chances in the final minutes of the match.
Denis Praet had a huge opportunity to bring Torino back in the lead.
Praet ended up behind the Cagliari defence after a long ball but his finish went just wide of Cragno’s goal. So, after skilfully navigating the hardest part, it was the Granata player’s finish that was poor.
Torino dominated from there on out as Simone Zaza had a big chance from a header only moments later. But he squashed it from eight yards out.
A dink through gave Daniele Baselli a chance one-on-one with Cragno. He tried to extend the dink over the Cagliari goalkeeper, but the finish ended way above the target.
Cagliari came on a visit through Nahitan Nandez at the right and the Uruguayan managed to cut inside. He merely got a good look of the goal, as his left foot’s finish ended up as a corner deflection.
On the following corner, the ball ended up bouncing towards Nandez, who tried, unsuccessfully, to imitate Joao Pedro’s spectacular goal.
So, this match was full of squandered opportunities and it ended in another stalemate for the Rossoblu at Unipol Domus.
