Juventus held by Sampdoria

Juventus have dropped points for the second successive game in Serie A with a 1-1 draw at home to Sampdoria.

The champions made the breakthrough on 12 minutes when Patrice Evra headed in his first goal for the club from a corner.

Juve continued to dominate as Sampdoria were forced further back, and they nearly doubled their advantage 10 minutes later through Claudio Marchisio, but his effort from the edge of the box was kept out by goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

Paul Pogba smashed an effort over the crossbar midway through the opening half, while Carlos Tevez was denied by Romero with 39 minutes played.

Sampdoria carved out a rare chance in the final stages of the half, though Stefano Okaka could only fire wide from 18 yards after the home side had failed to clear their lines.

A tentative second half came to life on 51 minutes when Manolo Gabbiadini equalised for the visitors with a curled effort from the edge of the penalty area, following a swift counter-attack.

Chances were few and far between after that as Juve struggled to break their opponents down, though Sampdoria almost snatched the points with two minutes left when Gabbiadini had his long-range drive pushed away by Gianluigi Buffon.