Atalanta 1-1 Juventus: Player ratings as Danilo nets stoppage-time equaliser

Danilo (of all people) came to the rescue for Juventus in Bergamo on Sunday evening, as his last-minute header cancelled out an unbelievable 30-yard strike from Ruslan Malinovskyi to earn Max Allegri's side a crucial point against Atalanta.

The result sees La Vecchia Signora extend their unbeaten run to 11 games and maintain a slender lead over Atalanta in the race for a top four finish.

It was all Juventus in the opening exchanges, and the first half-chance of the game fell to Dusan Vlahovic who, after Weston McKennie beat his man on the right and chipped the ball into the box, headed wide of Marco Sportiello's goal.

Seconds later, McKennie was once again the creator of another decent opportunity for Juve. This time his raking ball over the top was latched onto by Paulo Dybala, but after cutting in from the right flank the Argentine couldn't curl his left-footed effort into the top corner (as he so often does).

Atalanta sparked into life a bit after those two scares and would end up dominating possession for the rest of the half. They almost got their reward for a good period of pressure when a corner kick fell kindly into the path of Marten de Roon at the back post, however his subsequent volleyed effort flew well over the crossbar.

Matthijs de Ligt was called into action on two occasions before the half-time interval too, brilliantly twice blocking efforts on goal from Jeremie Boga.

Atalanta continued their dominance into the start of the second half, with De Roon forcing Szczesny into a decent save with an effort from the edge of the box.

That De Roon effort proved to be a bit of a wake up call for Juve, who had been coasting since the 20th minute mark. Dybala started to cause the Atalanta defence real problems with his movement off the right flank, and Vlahovic's physical presence was making life rather difficult for Rafa Toloi and co too.

The former almost assisted a Berat Djimsiti own goal, with his dangerous corner kick delivery being headed just past the post by the centre-back. And the latter almost grabbed his second goal in as many Serie A games for La Vecchia Signora in the 55th minute, but saw his snapshot from just inside the penalty area palmed well clear of danger by Sportiello.

Juventus were made to pay for missing those chances when Malinovskyi scored a goal of the season contender with a quarter of an hour remaining.

The substitute asked for a free kick to be rolled into his path, and proceeded to cannon the ball into the top-left corner from a solid 30 yards out. It was probably the purest strike of a football anywhere in Europe this season.

It. Was. Outrageous.

Despite Max Allegri throwing a few extra attackers on, the home side looked the much more likely to score the second goal of the game and they really, really, really should have when Malinovskyi chipped the ball to an unmarked Hans Hateboer at the back post. With just the goalkeeper to beat from literally two yards out, the Netherlands international hit the crossbar.

Then, in the dying embers of the game, Danilo popped up with an equaliser. The defender rose highest from a Dybala set piece to earn his side a point.

Here's how the Juventus players rated...

Juventus player ratings

1. Goalkeeper & defenders

Wojciech Szczesny (GK) - 4/10 - Big time brain fart almost cost Juve in the first half. Could do nothing about the goal.

Danilo (RB) - 6/10 - Struggled to deal with Boga's movement and pace, then popped up with a huge goal at the end.

Matthijs de Ligt (CB) - 8/10 - Brilliant performance from the young defender. Got in front of pretty much every shot on goal Atalanta had. Juve's best player.

Leonardo Bonucci (CB) - 7/10 - Solid performance from the veteran.

Mattia De Sciglio (LB) - 5/10 - Defended well enough, but didn't make many efforts to get forward from left-back.

2. Midfielders

Weston McKennie (CM) - 6/10 - Caused Atalanta problems when he burst down the right flank on occasion. He didn't do it often enough though.

Manuel Locatelli (CM) - 4/10 - He just did not do enough. Needs to get forward more often, that's what he's good at.

Adrien Rabiot (CM) - 3/10 - Complete non-entity in the first half, did slightly more in the second half but definitely not enough for me to say he is any way a competent footballer.

3. Forwards

Paulo Dybala (RW) - 7/10 - Had his moments in the first half and then really sparked into life in the second. The Argentine was at the heart of every good move Juve put together. Set up the equaliser.

Dusan Vlahovic (ST) - 6/10 - Few half-chances for the new signing, and his movement and hold-up play were very impressive at times.

Alvaro Morata (LW) - 6/10 - Hardest working player on the pitch. Lacked quality when the odd chance fell to him...which won't come as a surprise to anyone.

4. Substitutes

Juan Cuadrado - 6/10

Moise Kean - N/A

Arthur - N/A

Ake - N/A