Empoli forces 10-man Torino to 2-2 draw

 

Empoli on Thursday took numerical advantage in the game against Torino to secure a goal after being 2-0 down.

The host which continued their impressive performance had a dominant start. They were eventually rewarded with two goals in the first half hour of the game.

However, the advantage evaporated after Wilfried Singo got the marching order. They had to settle for a draw against Empoli after an hour down to 10 men.

Unfortunately, the Granata could not celebrate their 115th anniversary with a victory. The club in the mood for the celebration wore special edition jerseys to mark the occasion of their foundation.

Having been without talisman,  Andrea Belotti, missing Cristian Ansaldi, Simone Verdi, Rolando Mandragora and Koffi Djidji, Torino had to battle an Empoli that had a full squad at their disposal.

The first real action of the game came from Marko Pjaca’s deflected curler which turned into an assist for Antonio Sanabria, but the header went wide of the back post.

Not giving up, Torino with a similar situation took the lead as Sanabria’s shot this time around was deflected towards the direction of Tommaso Pobega who slide in at the far stick, flicking it in off the outside of the left boot.

Pjaca was eventually rewarded for his effo4t with a goal. The Croatian cut in from the left and steered a right-foot finish into the far bottom corner from just inside the penalty area.

After Filippo Bandinelli’s angled drive got deflected just wide, the turning point of the game came as Federico Di Francesco was brought down outside the box for a Wilfried Singo yellow card. However, after a VAR review, the referee upgraded it to a red for preventing a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

It took the visitors no time to take utilise the numerical advantage as a free header from Simone Romagnoli on a Liam Henderson helped Empoli get back into the game.

Despite being a man down, Torino still kept attacking as Ola Aina’s cross-shot was flapped away. Andrea Pinamonti almost got his toe to a Henderson ball over the top.

As the 10-man Torino remained dangerous on the counter, Bremer couldn’t finish off the ball after running from the edge of his penalty area to fire an angled drive just wide.

After his initial goal was ruled out for offside, Andrea La Mantia got in front of Alessandro Buongiorno for a glancing header into the top corner on Sebastiano Luperto’s assist to restore parity for the visitors.

Despite late attacks from Empoli, Torino held on to share the points.

Lazio and Udinese also played out a thrilling 4-4 draw. Both teams also had players sent off in the second half.

 

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed