Torino made life difficult for themselves with a parried Che Adams penalty, goalkeeping howler and Samuele Ricci red card, but still grabbed a point against Verona.
The Granata were on fine form after a run of three wins and two draws, despite the usual absentee list including Alieu Njie, Zanos Savva, Duvan Zapata, Perr Schuurs and Amine Salama. Hellas also surged towards mid-table following victory away to Udinese and a draw with Parma. Davide Faraoni, Casper Tendgstedt, Tomas Suslov, Cheikh Niasse and Abdou Harroui missed out.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Daniel Mosquera drilled just wide from distance in the opening minutes, while Amin Sarr hesitated on a promising counter-attack and eventually saw his shot charged down by Guillermo Maripan.
Eljif Elmas tested Lorenzo Montipò from distance, but Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had to be on his toes to rush out and make the clean challenge with Sarr clear on goal.
Milinkovic-Savic could only stand, watch and hope as Antoine Bernede’s right-foot curler from the edge of the area shaved a coat of paint off the far post on 36 minutes.
Mosquera also fired over from a tricky angle after catching Sebastian Walukiewicz napping, but Saul Coco was decisive with a well-timed sliding block as Mosquera ran onto the Domagoj Bradaric through ball.
There was a turning point when Sarr charged down a corner with his arm, spotted by VAR for a penalty. However, Che Adams saw his central effort saved by Lorenzo Montipò to keep the scoreline level.
Moments later, the other goalkeeper gifted Verona the opener with a howler, because Milinkovic-Savic was far too relaxed in possession on a back-pass, didn’t realise how quickly Sarr was rushing in to close him down, and saw his clearance ricochet into the net off the striker from six yards.
Torino responded quickly, as Elmas cut inside from the right, completed a give and go with Nikola Vlasic, and curled the left-foot finish in off the inside of the far post to equalise.
Toro ended the match down to 10 men, because Ricci was shown a straight red card for his completely mistimed tackle on Junior Ajayi, landing studs-up on top of his ankle.
Torino 1-1 Verona
Sarr 64 (V), Elmas 67 (T)
Saved penalty: Adams 62 (T)
Sent off: Ricci 86 (T)
