Cremonese vs Torino: Goalless Draw Highlights Survival Struggle

Under a bright lunchtime sky at Stadio Giovanni Zini, Cremonese and Torino shared a goalless draw that felt heavier than the 0-0 scoreline suggested, especially for the hosts’ survival fight. Cremonese, stuck in the lower reaches of Serie A, dominated territory and possession but could not convert pressure into a priceless win, while mid-table Torino were content to escape with a point after a largely reactive display.

Marco Giampaolo set Cremonese up in a 4-4-2, with Emil Audero behind a back four marshalled by Federico Baschirotto and Sebastiano Luperto. Antonio Sanabria and Federico Bonazzoli led the line, supported from wide areas by Jari Vandeputte and Romano Floriani Mussolini. Leonardo Colucci’s Torino responded with a 3-4-1-2, Nikola Vlašić operating off the front pair of Giovanni Simeone and Che Adams, and Alberto Paleari in goal.

The first half followed a clear pattern: Cremonese on the ball, Torino in a compact block. The hosts enjoyed 65% possession overall and that control was already evident before the interval. Cremonese tried to build patiently through Alberto Grassi and Warren Bondo, working the ball into wide areas for crosses towards Bonazzoli and Sanabria. Yet despite their initiative, clear chances were scarce. Torino’s back three of Saúl Coco, Guillermo Maripan and Enzo Ebosse defended their box well, forcing most efforts to come from distance or under pressure.

Torino, for their part, threatened only sporadically on the break. Their front two looked isolated for long spells, with Simeone and Adams feeding off long balls and second phases rather than structured attacks. Audero was called into action just once across the 90 minutes, comfortably dealing with Torino’s only shot on target, a reflection of how little incision the visitors could muster.

Goalless at the break, the game’s tension rose in the second half as Cremonese pushed harder for the win that would ease relegation worries. On 60 minutes Giampaolo made a double attacking change to inject fresh energy: Alessio Zerbin replaced Romano Floriani, and David Okereke came on for Vandeputte. Both substitutions tilted Cremonese further forward, with Zerbin offering direct dribbling from wide and Okereke adding mobility around the box.

Just two minutes later came the game’s most controversial moment. In the 62nd minute, Baschirotto thought he had finally broken the deadlock, only for VAR intervention to rule the goal out for a foul in the build-up. The decision preserved Torino’s clean sheet and deflated the home crowd, who had sensed a turning point in the survival fight.

Colucci reacted on 68 minutes with his own double change, aiming to stabilise a side increasingly under siege. Luca Marianucci replaced Maripan, and Alieu Njie came on for Simeone, giving Torino fresher legs at the back and in transition. Cremonese, however, continued to dictate play, and Giampaolo added further creativity on 73 minutes as Martín Payero replaced Grassi in midfield.

Torino’s response came in the 76th minute with another double substitution: Faustino Anjorin replaced Vlašić, and Cristiano Biraghi came on for Rafael Obrador. The visitors’ focus was clearly on defensive solidity and managing the game, rather than chasing all three points.

The final quarter of an hour was increasingly fractious. On 78 minutes Coco went into the book for a foul, the first of three yellow cards that underlined Torino’s struggle to contain Cremonese’s pressure. Two minutes later, in the 80th minute, Njie was booked for holding, and Ebosse followed in the same minute for unsportsmanlike conduct as Torino resorted to tactical fouls to break up play.

Cremonese continued to roll the dice. In the 84th minute, Milan Đurić replaced Sanabria to offer a more physical reference point in the box, while Tommaso Barbieri came on for Luperto to freshen up the defensive line and maintain intensity. Torino’s final change arrived on 90 minutes, with Sandro Kulenović replacing the cautioned Njie, a move as much about game management as attacking ambition.

Despite the flurry of changes, the pattern remained: Cremonese probing, Torino defending deep. The hosts racked up 14 shots to Torino’s 4, with 4 on target to the visitors’ solitary effort. Paleari’s 4 saves matched Cremonese’s shots on goal, while Audero’s single stop reflected Torino’s minimal attacking output. In terms of underlying threat, Cremonese’s xG of 0.77 against Torino’s 0.16 confirmed that the home side had done enough to deserve more than a point, even if they never carved out a truly clear-cut opportunity. Cremonese also recorded 4 blocked shots to Torino’s 1, another sign of sustained pressure.

In possession, Cremonese’s 495 passes at 84% accuracy underlined their dominance of the ball, compared with Torino’s 278 passes at 76%. Six corners to one further highlighted where the game was played: mostly in Torino’s half, with the visitors holding firm under a barrage of crosses and set pieces.

At full time, the 0-0 leaves Cremonese on 29 points from 34 games, with 26 goals scored and 47 conceded, still very much in a survival fight near the bottom of Serie A. Torino move to 41 points from 34 matches, now on 37 goals for and 54 against, consolidating their mid-table position but doing little to advance any late push towards the European places. For Giampaolo’s side, this was a missed opportunity; for Colucci’s Torino, it was a pragmatic point earned the hard way.