Juventus Suffers Shocking Home Defeat to Udinese

The Old Lady was surprised in her lair. Juventus conceded its first home defeat of the season on Monday, against Udinese, at the end of the 24th day of Serie A (0-1). The visitors opened the scoring with a set piece by Lautaro Giannetti (25th), the Turinese then clearly lacked offensive inspiration and collective fluidity. They suffered a second consecutive setback and let Inter take off at the top of the standings. The Zebrettes are 15th.

After its defeat in the big shock of the last day of the championship against Inter (1-0), Juve had to react and move forward. Faced with an opponent who is struggling to maintain her position, she logically wanted to take matters into her own hands on her lawn. Its captain Adrien Rabiot, the piston Andrea Cambiaso and the hard-hitting Federico Chiesa were activated. The Turin game, however, leaned far too much to the left throughout the first period and lacked variety as well as presence in the zone of truth.

A shot on target and a goal for Udinese

Rigorous and united in defense, the modest visitors were able to unite in front of their surface. They were also able to count on the responsiveness of their goalkeeper Maduka Okoye. The Nigerian stood up to Chiesa (7th) and saw Federico Gatti’s long shot miss his goal (19th). His Turin counterpart Wojciech Szczesny was unable to do anything about the Friulans’ only shot on target in this meeting. The Pole lost on Lautaro Giannetti’s point-blank recovery after an off-center free kick was poorly repelled by Alex Sandro from six meters (0-1, 25th).

Arriving from Velez Sarsfield this winter, the 30-year-old Argentine central defender scored his first goal in Serie A in his second match. Stunned, the Bianconeri tried to react but Okoye diverted Rabiot’s heavy strike (33rd). The goalkeeper above all made a fantastic save on his line against Arkadiusz Milik’s point-blank header (42nd). Aligned in attack in the absence of Dusan Vlahovic, injured, the former Marseillais had very little ammunition to eat because he was too often alone against the three opposing centrals.

405th missed for Allegri

Turin’s offensive play did not improve after the break. Quite the contrary because Chiesa remained impactful but always did the same thing. His teammates brought nothing more to combine effectively. Milik thought he scored from a corner but the ball had, in fact, left the field before on this corner hit by the clumsy Chiesa because he was in too much of a hurry (60th). In the process, Massimiliano Allegri launched the young Kenan Yildiz in place of the much too discreet Timothy Weah to better support Milik (61st).

The option chosen by the coach who officiated for the 405th time on the bench of the Old Lady and equaled Marcelo Lippi, however, did not bear fruit at all. Juve monopolized the ball against Florian Thauvin’s partners who retreated into their camp but slowly gave in. Udinese pockets its third success of the season, the second away after that against Milan in November (0-1). For the Turinese, still second in the standings, it is a 3rd defeat in Serie A in this exercise, the second in a row and it takes on the appearance of a farewell to the title because Inter is 7 steps ahead and 1 match in less (against Atalanta).

Federico Chiesa lors of Juventus-Udinese

Credit: Getty Images

2024-02-12 22:15:00
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