Juventus Suffer Shock defeat Against Newly-Promoted Empoli
Juventus slumped to a shock 1-0 home defeat to newly-promoted Empoli in Serie A in their first match since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure, courtesy of a first half strike by Leonardo Mancuso at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy.
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said his team cannot think about the departing Portugal forward and must come together to turn things around.
“Cristiano spent three years at Juventus, he scored goals, which he is very good at, he’s an extraordinary player, but we cannot think about Ronaldo from now on,” Allegri said in an interview.
“I have a fine squad, we simply must realise that we can’t just dominate every match. We need to come together and this will help us for the future.”
The Old Lady missed a cutting edge in front of goal in what was the worst possible start to life without the 36-year-old, who last year topped the Serie A goalscoring charts and scored over 100 times for Juventus in three seasons in Italy.
The Juventus players were whistled off the field by the home fans who are used to watching their team beat the bottom table teams of Serie A and will be worrying about their chances of taking the league title back from fierce rivals Inter Milan.
Serie A results
Atalanta 0-0 Bologna
Lazio 6-1 Spezia
Fiorentina 2-1 Torino
Juventus 0-1 Empoli
Chidi Nwoke/Serie A.
