Juanito strikes late for Verona against Juventus, Luca Toni on target

Juanito's late equaliser denied champions Juventus a winning end to the Serie A season as they played out a 2-2 draw against Verona at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on Saturday afternoon.

Roberto Pereyra and Fernando Llorente were on target for Massimiliano Allegri's men and Carlos Tevez missed a penalty, while they were twice pegged back with second-half goals from Luca Toni and Juanito.

The visitors finished the match with 10 men after Simone Pepe saw red late on ahead of next weekend's Champions League final against Barcelona.

The hosts got off to a good start and Toni had a half-chance to put his side ahead within the opening five minutes as the Serie A top leading goalscorer collected Juanito's deflected shot off Angelo Ogbonna and stabbed the ball wide after he was put under pressure from Juve stopper Gianluigi Buffon.

Paul Pogba came close with a weak effort for Juve but sent the ball wide before Tevez, who was rested in last weekend's 3-1 triumph over Napoli, shot straight at home goalkeeper Rafael as the visitors began to dominate.

AP Photo/Marco Vasini

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Patrice Evra attempted to set up former Manchester United team-mate Tevez midway through the first half but, as the ball fell to Claudio Marchisio, the Juve midfielder sent it looping off target.

Verona struck back with a great chance of their own as Emil Hallfredsson collected Juanito's backheel and cut the ball through to Toni at the far post but the veteran striker sent the ball narrowly wide.

Llorente missed the chance to bury an opener five minutes before the break, but two minutes later, Juve team-mate Pereyra made no mistake as he curled his long-range effort into the top corner to give his side the lead.

The hosts came out strong for the second half and Toni claimed his 22 league goal this term as he picked up Hallfredsson's pass on the counter-attack and slotted past Buffon at the near post to level the scores - leaving Tevez needing a hat-trick to move past him.

Jacopo Sala almost set Toni up for a second as the home side pushed forward, but the former Italy striker sent the ball wide of the mark before Juve struck again just before the hour from a great team effort.

Andrea Pirlo chipped the ball over the Verona defence for Simone Padoin and the latter headed it on for Llorente, who fired home from close range to hand Juventus the lead for the second time in the game.

Evra was replaced by Stephan Lichtsteiner moments later after sustaining a knock, while the hosts had gone quiet with Alessandro Agostini's cross into an empty box all they could muster after 71 minutes.

Verona appealed for a penalty deep into the second half after Juanito hit the deck, but the referee handed the away side a free-kick.

With two minutes remaining, Llorente was awarded a penalty down at the other end after he was brought down following a challenge from Rafael Marquez, but Rafael did well to tip Tevez's low spot-kick around the post.

Pepe was sent off for Juve in stoppage time after catching Mattia Valoti with his studs and the champions suffered a late blow as the hosts equalised from the Marquez's resulting free-kick, Juanito heading home to deny their opponents a winning end the season ahead of next Saturday's Champions League final with Barcelona in Berlin.