Gregoire Defrel came off the bench to pounce on a poor clearance and give Sassuolo victory, as Mattia Perin and Andrea Consigli made stunning saves in the second consecutive Juventus Serie A defeat.
Match Report
The Bianconeri followed up their defeat to Lazio with a 1-0 win over Sporting CP and have the second leg of that Europa League quarter-final coming up on Thursday.
Alex Sandro was suspended, Moise Kean, Mattia De Sciglio and Kaio Jorge injured, so 20-year-old Tommaso Barbieri was given his Serie A debut on the right flank. The hosts had Domenico Berardi and Mert Muldur on the treatment table after their run of four wins and a draw was ended by the surprise 2-1 loss to Verona.
Filip Kostic slightly over-hit the pass that would’ve seen Dusan Vlahovic clear, while Sassuolo wasted two counter-attacks and Danilo took a free kick away from Andrea Pinamonti at the back post.
Mattia Perin made the first save of the game on 55 minutes, pushing a sudden Maxime Lopez snapshot around the far post. He was tested far more on the resulting corner with a sensational reaction to parry Gregoire Defrel’s header from point-blank range.
Danilo stung Andrea Consigli’s gloves with a cross-shot, but Sassuolo had a period of several huge chances in a row. Federico Gatti practically cleared off the line from Matheus Henrique, then on the corner his header risked an own goal when thumping the upright.
The pressure paid off and Sassuolo took the lead when Nicolò Fagioli failed to clear a corner, instead accidentally setting up Defrel to score on the turn from 12 yards. Fagioli was substituted and burst into tears on the bench, consoled by his teammates.
Juve poured forward in search of an equaliser and Consigli made an extraordinary save, managing at full stretch with one hand to scoop an Adrien Rabiot glancing header out from under the crossbar on a corner.
Angel Di Maria blasted over from Federico Chiesa’s pull-back, while substitute Emil Ceide wasted a golden opportunity by nodding the free header straight at Perin and Abdou Harroui ballooned over rather than passing to Frattesi.
Line-ups
Sassuolo XI: Andrea Consigli, Toljan, Lopez, Martin Erlic, Matheus Henrique, Rogerio, Pinamonti, Frattesi, Armand Laurienté, Nedim Bajrami, Ruan Tressoldi
Subs: Gianluca Pegolo, Obiang, Defrel, Ferrari, Romagna, Riccardo Marchizza, Abdou Harroui, Kristian Thorstvedt, Emil Konradsen Ceide, Alessandro Russo, Nadir Zortea, Agustín Álvarez, Luca D'Andrea
Juventus XI: Danilo, Perin, Kostic, Paredes, Milik, Rabiot, Dusan Vlahovic, Gleison, Nicolò Fagioli, Tommaso Barbieri, Federico Gatti
Subs: Bonucci, Szczesny, Di Maria, Cuadrado, Pinsoglio, Rugani, Pogba, Locatelli, Chiesa, Samuel Iling Junior, Fabio Miretti, Matías Soulé
maturidikxith
311
old lady getting old now🤶