Palermo, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Roma failed to move level with Juventus at the top of the Serie A table on Saturday after being held to a 1-1 draw at Palermo.
Roma has now drawn three of its last four games in league play, leaving the club two points back of Juve, which can extend that lead on Sunday with a win at home against Hellas Verona.
Palermo capitalized on an early mistake to take the lead inside of two minutes through Paulo Dybala, while Roma answered after halftime courtesy of Mattia Destro to claim a point.
Davide Astori was largely to blame for the opening goal as he made a poor pass inside his own half of the field that was cut out by Palermo's Franco Vazquez. He then played Dybala into the area, allowing the Argentine to slot his shot past goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis for a 1-0 Palermo lead.
De Sanctis was called into action six minutes before halftime and he needed to produce a diving save on a flicked header from Edgar Barreto following Michel Morganella's cross to keep his side within a goal.
Roma failed to register a shot on target in the first half, and the visitors had trouble mounting a consistent attack throughout the match.
However, a left-wing free kick from Miralem Pjanic in the 54th minute set up the equalizer as the ball was played to the back post for Kevin Strootman, who nodded it back to the front of goal for Destro to redirect inside the left post.
Saturday's other match saw Inter Milan and Empoli battle to a 0-0 draw prevents Inter from moving into the top six.
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