A dogged Chievo side made life tough for Cristiano Ronaldo and his new Juventus team, as the Flying Donkeys narrowly lost 3-2 at the Stadio Bentegodi on Saturday evening, despite coming back from a goal down.
Another of Massmiliiano Allegri’s new signings Joao Cancelo also made his debut, alongside the returning Leonardo Bonucci. Emre Can started on the bench with Mattia Perin. Chievo had picked up just one point in their last 12 Serie A matches against Juventus, with that poor run continuing thanks to the Portuguese striker.
Things started as you’d expect for Juventus, as Miralem Pjanic swung in a freekick from the left which wasn’t cleat and eventually fell to Sami Khedira to poke home from close range. Juventus dominated possession, and by the half hours had over 80 percent, but were unable to breakthrough a deep Chievo backline.
Then, very much against the run of play, Mariusz Stepinski found himself free in the Juventus penalty area and headed into the top corner, giving Wojciech Szczesny no chance.
Eleven minutes into the second half, Emanuele Giaccherini was brought down in the Juventus penalty area by Cancelo, and the former Bianconeri man stepped up to slot him the spot kick. That lead lasted 21 minutes as a combination of the head of Bonucci and Mattia Bani levelled the score from a corner.
Then in dying moments Mario Mandzukic had the ball in the back of the net, but it was ruled out by VAR for a foul in the build up, but Federico Bernardeschi redirected a Douglas Costa cross into the net in time added on.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com