26 April 2013
During their return to Italy’s top flight, Torino have enjoyed a successful season on their home patch, boasting a record of six wins, four draws and six defeats. This run of results at the Stadio Olimpico has been the main driving force behind their current position of safety in the table, producing 22 of the club’s overall points tally of 36.
After a goalless away draw against Siena, the Granata kicked off their home campaign with a convincing 3-0 triumph over Pescara, featuring three goals in the space of half an hour from Alessandro Sgrigna, Matteo Brighi and Rolando Bianchi.
However, Torino then embarked upon a four-game winless streak on home soil, yielding just one of a possible 12 points. Inter were the first to make a successful trip to Turin as they recorded a 0-2 success thanks to goals from Diego Milito and Antionio Cassano.
Giampiero Ventura’s side played out a goalless stalemate ten days later against Udinese before then succumbing to a 0-1 loss at the hands of Cagliari as Nenê netted a late penalty.
In late October, Roberto Donadoni’s Parma became the latest outfit tasked with travelling to the Stadio Olimpico. For 72 minutes of the encounter, the two sides were locked at 0-0, but a frenetic final 20 minutes saw the visitors take a three-goal advantage before Migjen Basha then grabbed a late consolation in injury time.
Torino’s two-month wait for a second home win finally ended when Bologna retuned empty handed after Danilo D’Amborini’s back post header proved to be the game’s decisive goal.
A fortnight later, the Granata faced a tough assignment as they played host to an in-form Fiorentina outfit that had won six of their previous seven league matches. Gonzalo Rodríguez’s converted penalty levelled proceedings after Alessio Cerci had put Torino in the ascendancy just before the interval. Valter Birsa did manage to put the hosts back in front but Mounir El Hamdaoui snatched an equalising goal at the death to seal a share of the spoils.
The week after crashing to a 3-0 defeat in the Turin derby at Juventus Stadium, Ventura’s side were forced to contend with Milan. The encounter began positively as Mario Santana put the hosts in the driving seat just before the half hour mark, but after that Milan staged a dramatic comeback, striking four goals in the space of 36 minutes. Bianchi did manage to pull one back ten minutes from time, but his side ran out of steam and succumbed to a resounding 2-4 loss.
The Granata’s final match of 2012 ended as a 2-0 success against Chievo. Gennaro Sardo turned into his own net early doors before Alessandro Gazzi then doubled the advantage barely ten minutes later. This result provided the spark for a six-match unbeaten run on home soil.
Torino’s first home match of the new year bore witness to an electric first-half display as they reached the interval with a 3-1 advantage established by Matteo Brighi, Bianchi and Cerci. Michele Paolucci struck for the visitors 15 minutes from time to provide some hope of staging a comeback but in the end the hosts managed to close out a 3-2 triumph.
After hosting a goalless stalemate with Sampdoria, Torino then had to negotiate a tricky meeting with Atalanta. Cerci opened the scoring for the Granata on the cusp of half-time but then Germán Denis restored parity by slotting home a penalty for the visitors on 75 minutes. However, Birsa sparked scenes of jubilation at the Stadio Olimpico when he tapped home from close range right at the death to give the hosts a thoroughly deserved victory.
Ventura’s troops followed up their strong performance against Atalanta with a dogged display against ten-man Lazio on a near unplayable pitch which required the use of the alternative orange Serie A ball. Jonathas helped his side claim a significant scalp by netting the decisive goal via a perfectly placed volley from a corner-kick late in the piece.
Despite putting three goals past second-placed Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico, Torino’s unbeaten streak came to an end as they conceded a 3-2 advantage in the dying stages. Paulo Barreto, Jonathas and Riccardo Meggiorini had put the hosts in control with ten minutes to play, but Blerim Dzemali and an Edinson Cavani double consigned a shell-shocked Granata outfit to a 3-5 loss.
Torino’s most recent home assignment saw Roma travel north to Turin. The two sides headed into the interval on level pegging after Pablo Osvaldo’s opener had been cancelled out by Bianchi’s equaliser ten minutes later. However, Erik Lamela succeeded in finding what proved to be the winning goal for Zdenek Zeman’s team as he netted on the hour mark.
