Sassuolo shock Juventus for first league loss after six-goal thriller
Massimiliano Allegri caught attention when his starting XI was released, as for the first time in 112 games in charge of Juventus since 2021, the Italian manager named an unchanged line-up.
Despite this, Sassuolo got off to the stronger start, settling in well and they opened the scoring before the quarter-hour mark.
Armand Lauriente picked the ball up on the left wing, cut in towards the box and let loose with a pop shot on goal - it looked like it was going to be routine save for Wojciech Szczesny but the Juve goalkeeper made a hash of it, parrying the ball into the back of the net.
The away side didn’t panic after falling behind though, continuing with their gameplan and it paid off as they equalised midway through the half.
Some tidy wing play from Federico Chiesa allowed the Italian to clip the ball towards the far post where it was turned into his own net by Matias Vina, who was under pressure by Weston McKennie.
Not dismayed by being pegged back, the Neroverdi were continuing to probe and just as Szczesny made a brilliant save to deny Ruan Tressoldi, the Pole could not do anything to stop Domenico Berardi’s clinical first-time effort from the edge of the box though, as Sassuolo went into the break with the lead.
Juve came flying out for the second half in pursuit for a second equaliser of the evening, and Chiesa came awfully close to restoring parity but his cleverly-taken low free-kick went within a whisker of the bottom corner, having deceived the Sassuolo wall and goalkeeper.
Alessio Dionisi’s side seemed to have weathered the Bianconeri-storm and began to look dangerous on the counter, and they really should have added a third goal after Berardi split the opposition defence with a sublime through ball for Laurienté, who had the just the goalkeeper to beat but he somehow skied his effort.
Sassuolo would be made to pay for that miss as for the second time of the evening, the Old Lady drew level. Once again Chiesa was involved, but this time on the scoresheet as his deflected effort spun away from the despairing grasp of Alessio Cragno.
However, there was to be one more twist as for the third time, Sassuolo took the lead and once again, Szczesny was at fault once more, as he parried Lauriente’s shot right into the path of Andrea Pinamonti, who made no mistake and nodded in.
Juve failed to respond a third time, and instead conceded a bizarre own goal in stoppage time as Federico Gatti inexplicably kicked the ball into his own net from around 30 yards after receiving a pass from his goalkeeper - a perfect summary of a miserable night for Allegri's men.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Armand Lauriente (Sassuolo)