With only one point separating Empoli and Torino ahead of kick-off, the two closely-matched sides cancelled one another out for the majority of the first period.
The first meaningful opportunity of the game did not arrive until the 29th minute when Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was forced to save low down to his right to thwart Razvan Marin’s powerful strike.
With both defences on top, a set-piece was required to break the deadlock in the 37th minute, with Marin’s inviting corner-kick finding the near-post run of Sebastiano Luperto, who produced a clinical glancing header to register his first Serie A goal in his 87th appearance in the top flight.
Unable to find an equaliser before halftime, Ivan Juric decided to make a couple of changes at the break, introducing Antonio Sanabria and Sasa Lukic, who is currently being linked with a move to Fulham.
Aleksei Miranchuk and Wilfried Singo were also summoned from the bench inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half, and the alterations added some much-needed impetus to the visitors’ quest for an equaliser.
On the hour mark, former Empoli midfielder Samuele Ricci was denied by the woodwork, flicking the ball onto the post from Mergim Vojvoda’s teasing delivery. Just moments later, Guglielmo Vicario was required to push Miranchuk’s curling effort away from danger.
However, the visitors’ hopes of picking up at least a point were dented by Marin’s phenomenal long-range strike in the 69th minute. Francesco Caputo laid the ball off to Marin, who arrowed his shot into the top corner, leaving Milinkovic-Savic unmoved in the centre of the goal.
With under 10 minutes remaining, Ricci squirmed his shot under Vicario to register his first Torino goal and set up a grandstand finish.
Sensationally, Sanabria completed the remarkable comeback, firing the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Miranchuk went agonisingly close to finding a Torino winner, but the woodwork came to Empoli’s aid, ensuring the spoils were shared.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Razvan Marin (Empoli)
