Serie A: Keita gives 10-man Roma draw with Juve

Seydou Keita cancelled out a superb Carlos Tevez free kick as second-placed AS Roma fought back with 10 men for a fiery 1-1 draw at home to leaders Juventus who stayed on course for a fourth successive Serie A title on Monday.

Tevez gave Juventus the lead in the 64th minute, curling in a free kick for his 15th league goal of the season, and Keita replied 14 minutes later as the teams woke up after a dismal opening hour.

Although the Malian's equaliser gave Roma a glimmer of hope in the title race, Juventus stayed nine points clear after a bad-tempered match which saw Roma defender Vasilis Torosidis sent off and nine other players booked.

Torosidis was dismissed after being given a second yellow card for clipping Arturo Vidal's heels in the incident which led to the Juventus goal.

"I'm happy with what we did in the first 70 minutes and we continued playing well for a while after taking the lead, but after six or seven minutes we stopped playing," said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.

"We have to start winning again away from home again."

Roma coach Rudi Garcia was much happier than his opposite number.

"Our reaction was exceptional, to be one man down and one goal behind, and finish the game like this means that we are alive," said the Frenchman after his team's sixth successive home league draw.

Juventus, missing central midfielders Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba through injury, were thoroughly unambitious and content to sit back and defend for most of the first half.

The hosts, meanwhile, had drawn six of their seven league matches since the Christmas break and their lack of confidence was palpable.

Roma, faced with an eight-man defence, showed little urgency and the first half ended without a single shot on target, a complete contrast to the season's previous meeting which ended in a dramatic, controversial 3-2 win for Juventus.

Juventus were more dangerous on the break and Vidal nearly put them ahead at the start of the second half when his angled shot was centimetres wide of the post.

Tevez finally brought the game to life with a majestic free kick which Pirlo would have been proud of.

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was finally forced to make a save in the 72nd minute when he got down to block Konstantinos Manolas' header.

Roma suddenly found some much-needed spark and levelled when Alessandro Florenzi's free kick was met by Keita with a downward header which Claudio Marchisio got to but was unable to keep out.

Image: AS Roma's Seydou Keita heads the ball to score against Juventus during their Serie A match at the Olympic stadium in Rome on March 2

Photograph: Giampiero Sposito/Reuters