Coming into this with five wins from seven games at the Allianz Stadium in all competitions (D1, L1), Juve’s strong home form needed to continue here if they were to keep the pace in the race for fourth.
A strong start saw the hosts break the deadlock inside the opening quarter-hour, with Mattia Perin’s long kick finding Francisco Conceicao, who led the counter charge down the right, eventually cutting in and laying off for Kenan Yildiz to guide a first-time finish into the bottom corner.
Soon after, Yildız forced Arijanet Muric into a stop, as the goalkeeper pushed over a looping effort, shortly before Andrea Pinamonti missed the chance to level at the other end, heading a corner over the bar at the back post.
Juventus were producing some neat passages of play, and Pierre Kalulu had a presentable opportunity to double his side’s advantage before the break, but the defender was unable to direct his bending shot on target after more good work from Conceicao.
The Neroverdi needed a response after an underwhelming first-half showing, and they got just that seven minutes after the restart.
They’d created little to this point, but sharp movement from Pinamonti saw him get in front of Gleison Bremer to poke home Domenico Berardi’s low ball into the box, levelling the game.
Unsurprisingly, the Bianconeri pushed hard to restore their lead, testing Muric’s reactions with a back-post header from Jeremie Boga after Conceicao had supplied yet another sumptuous delivery.
And four minutes from time, Jay Idzes was penalised for handling in the area, giving Locatelli the chance to win the game. However, Muric guessed the right way, holding a rather tame effort to ultimately deny Juventus what would have been a third straight league win.
A point isn’t enough to see Luciano Spalletti’s men climb above Como, who remain ahead on H2Hs, having yet to play this weekend.
Meanwhile, despite a creditable point, one triumph in nine away games against sides starting the matchday above them goes some way to explaining why the Neroverdi find themselves 11th, with a European push likely beyond them at this stage of the campaign.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Arijanet Muric (Sassuolo)