Serie A wrap: Juve, Udinese in scoreless draw

Juventus reclaimed top spot in Serie A courtesy of a dour 0-0 draw with Udinese at the Stadio Friuli on Wednesday.

Claudio Marchisio threatened a couple of times for Juve but they were for the most part frustrated by Udinese, who only threatened sporadically on the counter-attack during the second half.

Juventus started promisingly enough, with midfielder Marchisio slicing wide from the edge of the box after a clever cutback from Marcelo Estigarribia.

Simone Pepe then called Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic into action for the first time on 10 minutes with a well-struck effort from 25 yards out, which the shot-stopper could only parry away.

Udinese’s only real opening came from a mistake by Giorgio Chiellini, with the Juventus defender botching an attempted headed clearance to put Mauricio Isla in on goal.

But Juve custodian Gianluigi Buffon was alive to the danger and made himself big to block Isla’s attempted lob.

The odd defensive lapse aside, Juve were relatively comfortable throughout and came desperately close to taking the lead on two occasions shortly before the interval.

Marchisio curled a shot just wide from the edge of the area, before Chiellini drew a fine reaction save out of Handanovic with his clever flick from Andrea Pirlo’s free kick.

The visitors continued to look the more likely to break the deadlock in the second half, with Handanovic doing well to get down low to keep out another effort from Chiellini six minutes after the restart.

Juventus’ out-of-sorts frontman Alessandro Matri eventually made way for Fabio Quagliarella midway through the second period, and the former Udinese forward did inject some life into the game.

But when he was presented with a decent chance to win the game for Juve with seven minutes remaining, the forward shot straight at Handanovic on the half-turn.

Juve were forced to settle for a point which, while disappointing, did at least see them climb back above AC Milan and into top spot on account of their superior head-to-head record.

Udinese, meanwhile, remain third and three points adrift of the co-leaders.