Juve suffers first league defeat of season
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Juventus fell to its first Serie A defeat of the season yesterday as Genoa ran out a 2-0 winner days after the Turin club’s UEFA Champions League heroics against Atletico Madrid.
Stefano Sturaro, who joined Genoa on loan from Juventus in January before the deal was made permanent, put the home side in front in the second half before fellow substitute Goran Pandev secured the shock result with 10 minutes remaining.
Cristiano Ronaldo inspired a remarkable European comeback for the Italian champion on Tuesday when he scored a hat-trick to overturn a 0-2 first-leg loss against Atletico and send his side through to the quarterfinals with a 3-2 aggregate win.
However, the Portuguese was left out of the matchday squad for the trip to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris and Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri was left frustrated as Genoa took points off his side for the second time this season, having drawn 1-1 in Turin in October.
“I expected a different Juventus,” Allegri told Italian broadcasters.
“We did not put in a good performance, we made some mistakes and then this goal came out of nowhere.
“Much like the Coppa Italia defeat to Atalanta, we picked the right game to lose, because it’s just before the break for international duty, so we have time to unplug and rest.
“I am actually happy for Stefano, because if anyone had to score against us, I am glad it was Sturaro. He’s a lovely guy and suffered so much, out of action for practically a year with that tendon injury, so he deserves it.”
Juve had dropped points just three times this season going into the game, with draws against Genoa, Atalanta and Parma, while it was unbeaten overall in the top-flight for the last 31 rounds, since losing 0-1 to Napoli on April 22, 2018.
However, the hosts started the brighter as Christian Kouame forced a good save from former Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin before Cesare Prandelli’s side was awarded a penalty for handball, only for a video assistant referee review to overturn the decision.
Juventus thought it had gone in front after the break when Paulo Dybala swept home a finish, but VAR chalked the goal off for an offside in the build-up.
Sturaro then curled a finish into the corner against his parent club just minutes after coming on, before Pandev made sure of the three points with a powerful finish.
Despite the result, Juventus remains 18 points clear of second-placed Napoli, which was hosing Udinese later, while Genoa climbed above Sassuolo into 12th place on 33 points.
AC Milan was hosting Inter Milan yesterday in a derby match with just a point separating the two sides, which are third and fourth, respectively.
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