With five-time World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo absent from the squad, Juventus were handed their first defeat of the Serie A season when they went down 2-0 at Genoa on Sunday, 17 March.
The seven-time defending champions had won 24 and drawn three of their 27 matches in the Italian league so far, but saw their unbeaten run ended by the same club that halted their winning streak in late 2018, when they held Juve to a 1-1 draw in October.
Despite the defeat, Juventus remain 15 points ahead of second-placed Napoli with 10 games left until the end of the 2018/19 campaign.
Genoa, meanwhile, climbed up to 12th spot in Serie A – still a whopping 42 points behind the league leaders.
Coach Massimiliano Allegri decided to rest several of his regular starters following the team’s remarkable comeback in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against Atletico Madrid, where Ronaldo’s hat-trick led Juve to a 3-0 second leg win after losing the first leg 2-0.
With Juventus out of the Italian Cup, and the Champions League quarters against Ajax – who eliminated three-time defending champions Real Madrid – not for another two weeks, Allegri perhaps saw the clash with Genoa as the right time to give his stars a deserved break.
A lack of understanding between players who rarely feature together, however, cost the Turin club three points – and a shot at going undefeated through the league season.
Juve were found to be out-of-rhythm against the aggressive hosts, who had the experienced duo of midfielder Stefano Sturaro and forward Goran Pandev on target for them.
Sturaro, a former Juve player, opened the scoring for Genoa with a long-range effort in the 72nd minute, before Pandev sealed the result with a left-footed strike nine minutes later.
(With inputs from IANS)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)