Juventus maintained their unbeaten start to the season with Saturday's surprise 1-1 stalemate at Stadio Marcoantonio Bentegodi with Francisco Conceicao making the scoresheet. While under pressure shotstopper Michele Di Gregorio conceded his eighth goal in three outings after being beaten by Gift Orban.
The Bianconeri appear to be serious Scudetto contenders if theiir early Serie A is anything to go by, but last term they came out of the traps with similar gusto under the then manager Thiago Motta.
A repeat winter wobble could occur under Juve boss Igor Tudor, but the wily Croatian is determined not to maintain the momentum without getting carried away.
Hellas Verona remain in a perilous position near the bottom of the table after four games, bagging just two goals, while the Bianconeri are buzzing and producing entertaining games for supporters in the stands.
Starting issues for Juventus
Tudor faced selection dilemmas at both ends of the pitch, with keeper Michele Di Gregorio making rare mistakes for two of Borussia Dortmund's goals in the high-octane midweek Champions League clash. While he was spoiled for choice upfront, unsettled striker Dusan Vlahovic in formidable form with four goals from four substitute appearances.
Both aces were starters for Tudor's troops with Andrea Cambiaso returning from a two-match suspension.
After the recent drama of high-octane soccer involving the Turin titans, who netted three stoppage time goals in their previous two matches to help take the entertainment value up a few notches, Tudor was eager to stop the rot of shipping goals.
Tackling Verona away was the kind of match that Juventus dropped points last season under Motta, who was responsible for the majority of Juve’s Serie A 16 draws that were primarily against teams in the middle or lower part of the table. Yet Motta had masterminded an emphatic 3-0 triumph at Verona last August, when the Bianconeri were flying.
Tudor followed suit, selecting a creative and confidence line-up. The visitors pressed forward from the first whistle to try and dominate proceedings, and were rewarded with Conceicao's 19th-minute strike.
Conceicao back in business
The Portuguese winger returned from a muscle injury with aplomb, cutting in from the right flank and once parallel to the outside line of the box sent his left footed effort into the back of the net.
There were few goal-scoring opportunities that followed, with only livewire Orban taking the bull by the horns to unleash a pair of wayward shots.
It became an ill-tempered affair, with a trio of Juve players shown a yellow card before the hosts snatched a 44th-minute equalizer courtesy of a penalty.
Wing-back Joao Mario was adjudged to have handled the ball, but it took over three minutes for VAR to rule the spot-kick, which Orban converted past Di Gregorio and into the top right corner.
Verona looked capable of a win
Verona's last home victory against Juve was a 2-1 success four years ago when Giovanni Simeone hit a brace and Weston McKennie was on target, and at hosts entered the interval looking capable of causing another upset.
Vlahovic's left-footer shot from the left side of the box looked destined to nestle in the bottom left corner, only for shotstopper Lorenzo Montipo to come to Verona's rescue straight after the turnaround. Nigerian ace Orban then tested Di Gregorio with an ambitious effort.
With Juve looked lost it was no surprise to see Tudor shake things up, swapping Lois Openda for Vlahovic and Vasilje Adzic replacing Khephren Thuram to join the half-time introduction of Teun Koopmeiners.
On the hour mark teenager Adzix tried his luck to no avail, and seven minutes later Suat Serdar found the back of the net only for his effort to ruled out following a VAR check.
David and Zhegrova thrown on
After this scare Tudor unleased Jonathan David, hauling off Conceicao. Openda's angled shot was saved by Montipo. then Juventus decided to throw caution to the wind by sending on Edon Zhegrova for his debut to try and break down the resilient defense.
Despite seven minutes of added time, it was the hosts who finished stronger to frustrate the table-toppers and register their third Serie A draw from four outings.
Juventus leapfrogged Napoli with the point, but could be overtaken by the defending champions as well as maybe Cremonese and Udinese if they win and improve their goal difference.
JUVENTUS: Di Gregorio - Kelly, Gatti, Kalulu - Cambiaso, Thuram (Adzic, 57), Locatelli (Koopmeiners, 45), Mario (Zhegrova, 81) - Yildiz, Conceicao (David, 69)- Vlahovic (Openda, 57). Subs: Pinsoglio, Perin, Bremer, Cabal, Rugani, McKennie, Kostic