Juventus knocked out against Sassuolo Allegri at -13 points from the top

Bianconeri beaten at the Stadium with a goal from Lopez in full recovery Predictable and inconclusive game. The dream of a comeback has vanished for now

TORINO

Game over. The dream of the comeback ends here. Juve, trembling and inconclusive, interrupts the positive streak: skewered in the 95th minute by an excellent Lopez, after having laboriously nullified the first disadvantage, delivers the three points to Sassuolo and slips to -13 from the top, forced to reflect on the gaps and resize ambitions. More than the defeat, the genesis worries: there is nothing casual, it is the mirror of a predictable game and a wrong attitude, long light and in the end ruffled.

The Juventus performance is immediately a cry, there is not a shred of idea and a single flash comes on when Dybala hits the limit post. Before and after Consiglio gets away with a leap on De Sciglio’s malignant parable and a low exit on Morata, testimony of the lost incisiveness, very serious at the start when the team presses and Sassuolo falters, unable to climb. It is not enough to support Dybala with Morata and deploy Chiesa on the right wing: the two great absentees from San Siro do not sting, the Spaniard cincischia, the midfield centered on Locatelli and McKennie latita, Rabiot on the left is useless.

Shadows highlighted by the growth of the Emilians who gain safety and meters, touching the advantage with Berardi – awake Perin on the shot – and grabbing him on the edge of the interval with Frattesi, triggered by Defrel. The Frenchman, preferred at the start of Scamacca, is at the end of a well structured 4-2-3-1 with a dynamic line of attacking midfielders devoted to sacrifice, whose movements change the form drawing the trident. Allegri, who initially lets Cuadrado and Alex Sandro catch his breath, is forced to review his choices, first out of necessity (De Sciglio hurts his knee, it’s up to the Brazilian), then out of self-criticism: outside Rabiot and inside the Colombian with Chiesa changing lanes .

Juve gains in propulsion, puts a pinch of pride in it, opens the second half with aggression but has no luck: Ayhan saves on the line when Cuadrado overtakes Consiglio, shortly after the goalkeeper flies to Dybala. Sassuolo, in this phase, suffers a little, but as soon as he can he replies: Raspadori has a good ball before giving way to Scamacca. Young relay, but Juve goes further: the evanescent Morata parade, center-forward is the 19-year-old Kaio Jorge, immediately the author of a nice overhead kick from Cuadrado’s throw. The draw comes fifteen minutes from time on a free-kick from Dybala corrected by McKennie, then a predictable but reckless assault starts, in which substitutes Arthur and Kulusevski participate. Sassuolo also changes, Muldur wastes time in leaving the field and an outbreak of brawl ignites, there is no lucidity among the bianconeri while it hits the compactness of Dionisi’s boys. In extremis the nightmare materializes: Berardi embroiders for Lopez who calibrates a lob only touched by Perin.

The sixteen Sassuolo fans rejoice, the Juve people boo. Not too much, to tell the truth, but it is not benevolence: rather a mix of disbelief and resignation. –