Juventus miss chance to wrap up Serie A

Juventus need three points to win Serie A for the ninth time in a row. They could have won it on Thursday night (July 22) but they lost 2-1 to a struggling Udinese. They must now win one of their remaining three games.

Juve scored first on Thursday through a powerful drive from Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt but Udinese equalized through a header from Ilija Nestorovski’s header. Pressing for the winner, Udinese’s Seko Fofana broke from the halfway line and sliced through Juventus defenders, De Ligt and Alex Sandro to put the winner past keeper Wojciech Szczesny, during injury time.

“Juventus wanted to win the championship, but we had a great game,” said Fofana.

“We said beforehand that (relegation rivals) Lecce were going strong and we had to push forward.”

Juventus has been in indifferent form since the restart, winning just one of their last five Serie A games. They are still at the top of the table only because Atalanta, Inter Milan and Lazio who are chasing them haven’t been much better.

Speculation about manager Maurizio Sarri’s future has been increasing and Juv will be hoping to close the title when they face Sampdoria on Sunday night (July 25).

Sarri put Thursday’s game in perspective in his post-match interview.

“This season is difficult, all the teams are playing in conditions different to the usual ones and everyone is tired.”

“It’s complicated to stay mentally and physically on the ball for 90 minutes. The games are strange and the momentum changes very easily. The mental fatigue is more than the physical fatigue.”

His opposite number at Udinese, Luca Gotti, said Sarri deserved the title.

“I didn’t see it coming, but the best thing is that the guys did everything they could to make it happen,” he said. “It was hard to imagine with so few available and so much tiredness.

“Sarri deserves this title, which is virtually Juve’s, but I’m happy he didn’t celebrate it here in Udine.”