Without Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus Draws Against Lecce

Juventus was surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Lecce in Serie A on Saturday as Matthijs de Ligt's disappointing start to his Bianconeri career continued.

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Juventus was surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Lecce in Serie A on Saturday as Matthijs de Ligt's disappointing start to his Bianconeri career continued.

De Ligt has been at fault for several goals since his 75 million euro ($85 million) transfer from Ajax in the offseason and the 20-year-old gave away the penalty that led to Lecce's equalizer. Paulo Dybala had scored from the spot to give Juventus the lead.

Lecce moved two points above the relegation zone ahead of the rest of the weekend's fixtures.

Cristiano Ronaldo was rested for the match and Juventus struggled to create goalscoring opportunities.

Gonzalo Higuain thought he had given Juve the lead in the 15th minute but his goal was ruled out for offside. Juventus had a couple of penalty appeals in the first half but it was awarded a spot kick after the break for a lunge by Lecce defender Jacopo Petriccione on Miralem Pjanic.

Dybala struck the ball into the bottom right corner to put Juventus in front, five minutes into the second period. However, Lecce leveled just six minutes later with a similar penalty from Marco Mancosu following De Ligt's handball.

Federico Bernardeschi should have restored Juve's lead but he hit the post.