Juventus succumbed to the unpredictability of Alessio Dionisi’s Sassuolo on Wednesday evening at the Allianz Stadium, with the hosts tasting their first defeat in October. The 2-1 loss epitomised a disheartening end to a solid journey that saw the Old Lady completing a nine-match unbeaten run across all competitions.
Davide Frattesi’s opener just before half-time marked a glut of deficiencies that still lie in the Bianconeri defence. Weston McKennie, with perhaps the best leap of his career, headed home to equalise in the 76th minute of the match. In the hope of scoring the decisive goal, Juventus players had pushed forward, letting the danger of getting hit on the counter-attack loom on their shoulders.
A cunning cross-field pass from Domenico Berardi found Maxime Lopez on the left side of Sassuolo’s attack. After covering acres of space left desolate by Juve defenders, the Frenchman chipped the ball over Mattia Perin in added time, giving the Neroverdi their first-ever away win in Juventus’ backyard.
The outcome of the game was not what many would have predicted. That said, here are the three key takeaways from Juventus’ stunning home defeat.
3. Like Inter fans last weekend, Juventini might feel a bit unlucky!
Do you remember how Juventini laughed at the misery of the Inter fans at the weekend? Of course, you do. It seems those laughs came back to bite them on the backside. Despite controlling large swathes of the weekend’s Derby d’Italia, Inter failed to pocket all three points, thanks to Denzel Dumfries’ foul on Alex Sandro that cost Inter a penalty and ultimately a goal dispatched by the retuning Paulo Dybala.
Likewise, Juventus appeared to be a more threatening side on Wednesday. They completed over 500 passes, around 100 more than Sassuolo. They attempted more shots throughout the 90 minutes. But the only difference between the weekend’s Inter and this midweek’s Massimiliano Allegri’s side was that the latter went on to lose the game.
After McKennie drew the equaliser, it felt as if Juventus were the favourites to grab a victory. To say the least, they were completely dominating the flow of the play. Furthermore, the injection of Juan Cuadrado for a disjointed Adrien Rabiot and Dejan Kulusevski for Danilo meant Allegri was thinking of winning the game rather than settling on what they had already amassed.
Those were the positive moves from the five-time Scudetto winner with Juve. Sassuolo’s failure at winning any of their heavyweight matches before this victory over the Old Lady on Wednesday was also perceived as a sign in the favour of the hosts. However, at the end of the day, Dionisi’s troops, showing flashes of sheer unpredictability, ruled the last grin.