Lazio dealt another heavy blow to Juventus' ambitions, defeating them 1:0 at home in the 8th round, sportal.bg reported.
"The Eagles" snatched the three points with a goal from Toma Basic in the 9th minute, thus deepening the crisis for the "Bianconeri", who suffered a third consecutive loss in all tournaments and a total of 8 matches without a win. After this defeat, the dark clouds over the Turin coach Igor Tudor are increasingly thickening.
Maurizio Sarri had chosen to start the match with Mattia Dzaccani, Boulaye Dia and Gustav Isaksen in attack. Matteo Guendouzi, Danilo Cataldi and Toma Bašić partnered in midfield.
The surprise in the "old lady" squad was the absence of young star Kenan Yildiz. The reason for this was a change in the playing scheme to 3-5-2, with Dušan Vlahović and Jonathan David starting in attack. Manuel Locatelli, Tune Kopmeyners and Weston McKennie were in the middle, while Andrea Cambiazo and Francisco Conceicao were the two midfielders.
Lazio took the lead with their first better chance of the match. A poorly returned ball from Jonathan David fell to Danilo Cataldi, who passed to Toma Basic in front of the penalty area, and he shot from the move and after a ricochet off Federico Gatti's leg, the ball ended up in Mattia Perin's goal for 1:0.
In the 17th minute, Dušan Vlahović fired a header at the home team's goal, but the shot missed the target.
Juventus attempted to press, but it was smashed into the wall of defenders in front of Ivan Provedel's penalty area.
Instead of equalizing, in the 32nd minute the home team came close to doubling their lead. Matteo Guendouzi fired hard and only Federico Gatti's brilliant intervention in front of the goal line prevented a second goal from being scored by Perrin.
Juve created an excellent goal opportunity in the 33rd minute, when Andrea Cambiasso brought Jonathan David into the penalty area with a wonderful pass, but Ivan Provedel came out with foresight and blocked the Canadian's shot.
The guests had another interesting chance in the 39th minute, when Francisco Conceicao broke through from the right and crossed to Dušan Vlahović, who, however, failed to intercept the ball well and it went wide of the goal.
In the 45th minute, Thun Kopmeijers shot directly from a free kick, the ball was flying towards the goal, but there Bulae Dia intervened and cleared it for a corner.
The second half began with a huge miss by Vlahović, who hit the crossbar meters in front of the goal after Lloyd's cross Kelly. The only consolation for the Serb was that the situation was ruled offside.
There were a lot of nervous minutes on the field, accompanied by fouls from both teams, and the referee had to calm the passions with yellow cards.
In the 59th minute, Danilo Cataldi had a chance to shoot from long range, but his shot was extremely disappointing.
A minute later, a controversial situation arose in the home team's penalty area, Francisco Conceicao was stepped on by Mario Gila, but the referee decided that this was not enough to award a penalty.
In the 62nd minute, Toma Basic shot dangerously with his head and forced Matija Perin to make a save.
Three minutes later, Bulae Dia broke free in the penalty area and shot into the near corner, but Perin was careful and saved confidently.
Juve pressed again and Vlahovic headed the ball in the 70th minute, but again it was weak and inaccurate.
One of the most beautiful moments of the match was created by Pierre Kalullu, who with a beautiful passing pass brought Kenan Yildiz behind the defense, but the Turk was inches short of a stronger and more dangerous shot.
In the 75th minute, Ivan Provedel was put under pressure by Kefren Thuram, who shot from close range with his head, but the goalkeeper made a brilliant save.
In the 79th minute, Lazio could have decided everything in the match. Isaksen made a great break and shot towards the far corner, but the ball missed the goal by inches.
The hosts had another good chance in the 83rd minute when Pedro shot at Perin's goal and the ball flew dangerously close to the goal.
In the end, Juve tried a final attack and in the 93rd minute they reached an interesting situation, with Kefren Thuram shooting from close range with a header, but Provedel was careful and caught it.
In the end, Lazio held on to a narrow victory and with 11 points came out in 10th place in the standings. Juventus remain 8th with 12 points.