AS Roma 1-1 Juventus: 5 talking points

10 men AS Roma huffed and puffed but secured a solitary point as they fought back from a goal down to earn a deserving 1-1 draw at Stadio Olimpico to stay 9 points adrift of leaders Juventus.After a cagey affair in the first half, the deadlock was broken in the 64th minute through an exquisite free-kick by Carlos Tevez after Vasilis Torosidis was given the marching orders for a second bookable offence. The home side did their damnedest in the search of an equaliser subsequently, and were rewarded with one when Seydou Keita rose the highest and headed the ball into the net from a close range 12 minutes from time.The result keeps the Bianconeris unperturbed at the summit and firmly in contention for a 4th Scudetto on the bounce. Here are the 5 talking points from the encounter.

#1 Seydou Keita finally proves his mettle

Seydou Keita scored the equaliser

Keita had a bright evening where he harrowed the Juve defence throughout the course of 90 minutes, capping off with a sublime header which levelled the terms and was the creme-de-la-creme of his side.

The former Barcelona man provided the much-needed creativity from the centre of the park and his darting runs into the box were simply incommodious for the visiting team. Keita completed 85% of his passes and won every aerial duel that came his way. He also won a WhoScored rating of 7.6.

His best moment of the evening however, came in the 78th minute when he leapt above the rest to clinically head the ball into the onion bag from Alessandro Florenzi’s well taken free-kick and cancelled out Tevez’s opener.

Keita had his best game of the season for Roma and this should absolve him of the criticisms he has been targetted with for quite a some time this term.