Torino’s home drought continues with draw against 10-man Spezia

Torino owner Urbano Cairo blasted “the worst match of the season” as the club’s winless Serie A run at home continued with a goalless draw on Saturday against minnows Spezia who played 82 minutes a man down.

Luca Vignali was sent off for the promoted side after just eight minutes in Turin for a bad tackle on Nicola Murru.

But Torino were unable to take advantage and remain 18^th after just two wins all season, matching their previous worst run after 18 games. In nine home games they have drawn five and lost four.

“It was a very bad match, very bad, I thought I was seeing a different team,” said Cairo, insisting however coach Marco Giampaolo would “of course remain on the Toro bench”.

“We didn’t even have a hint of good luck,” continued Giampaolo, who took over last August, and whose side also lost in the Italian Cup midweek on penalties to AC Milan.

“With a numerical advantage we should have done something more. We were tired and not very clear-headed.

“This draw, added to our position, creates great difficulties. We have no margin for error left.”

Ligurian side Spezia earned a precious point for top-flight survival following back-to-back wins against Napoli and Sampdoria. They sit 14^th, five points above the relegation zone.

Italy forward Riccardo Orsolini earlier snapped Bologna’s eight-match winless run with a penalty in a 1-0 home victory over Hellas Verona.

Orsolini slotted in from the spot on 19 minutes after Roberto Soriano was brought down by Verona goalkeeper Marco Silvestri.

Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side recorded their first victory since November 29 following a sequence of five draws and three defeats, moving up to 12^th place.

Verona’s European ambitions took a knock as they stayed ninth, four points adrift of Napoli in sixth.

Torregrossa scores on debut

In Genoa, Italian forward Ernesto Torregrossa scored on his debut for midtable Sampdoria in a 2-1 comeback win over Udinese.

The 28-year-old, who has just arrived on loan from Brescia, came off the bench and got his head to a Tommaso Augello cross late on to seal the three points.

Udinese, now winless in seven, had gone ahead 10 minutes after the break through Rodrigo De Paul but Antonio Candreva struck from the spot to pull Sampdoria level against his former side.

On Sunday, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus and Romelu Lukaku’s Inter Milan clash in what could be one of the defining matches of the Serie A season.

Inter are second, three points behind leaders AC Milan, who travel to Cagliari on Monday, with Juventus fourth, seven points adrift of top spot with a game in hand.