The Bianconeri's first loss of the season, Juventus lose 3-0 against Fiorentina at home. Just a couple of hours before, it was also announced that Napoli's appeal has passed and the match that was previously forfeited must be played.
STARTING XI
4-4-2
#2- Szczesny
#16- Cuadrado
#4- De Ligt
#19- Bonucci
#12- Sandro
#22- Chiesa
#14- McKennie
#30- Bentancur
#8- Ramsey
#9- Morata
#7- Ronaldo
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
The first half starts disastrously for the Bianconeri when a long pass from Ribery finds Vlahović beyond the Juve defense line. The Viola find the back of the net, and at just three minutes lead at Allianz.
Things go from bad to worse at 17 minutes, when Cuadrado makes a misjudged tackle on the opponent and his studs make contact with the opponent's shin. He was first carded a yellow but after the referee checked the VAR, it was changed to a red card, and Cuadrado is sent off with more than 70 minutes left on the clock. Pirlo subs Ramsey off for Danilo to compensate for the loss.
A few minutes later Szczesny makes a good save to end the first half 1-0.
Right as the second half started, Morata is subbed off for Bernardeschi. At 56 minutes, Ronaldo finds the back of the net with a header but was clearly offside. McKennie is also later switched with Kulusevski.
Though the Bianconeri were holding up with 10 men on the pitch, Fiorentina eventually widens the gap. A cross from the opponent reaches the box, Bonucci fails to clear it, and the ball bounces off Alex Sandro for and own goal.
Immediately after, Bernardeschi gets into the opponent's box and falls after contact with a defender and the goalie. No foul was given. An assist from Biraghi to Cáceres makes it 3-0 until the end of the match.
AFTER-MATCH THOUGHTS
Pirlo:
“We entered with the wrong attitude and when you go on the pitch like this, you go against bad figures, then there we were down to 10 men, and at that point, it was difficult to recover. Sometimes it happens that we are not 100%, but in the second half we entered with the right mentality. It could have been better. Now we have to start again with desire, thinking about the mistakes we made and carrying out our project.”
JUVENTINA'S THOUGHTS
Going from one of Juve's best performances season to their worst in just a span of three/four days, this game was painful to watch. Despite a poor performance from almost the entire team, there are some key points that resulted in this loss. 1) Cuadrado's tackle did deserve a red, even though it doesn't seem like it was a purposely dangerous foul. With a man down, it became much more difficult for Juve to make a comeback. 2) Bonucci's various defensive mistakes resulted in a goal lost. 3) Poor refereeing. The red card was justified. However, the lack of consistency in the rest of the match was infuriating and definitely contributed to the loss. Throughout the game after Cuadrado was sent off, there were two instances that deserved a penalty check, and another one to two fouls from the opponent that deserved a second yellow. As the English commentators of the match pointed out, the referee's hand instinctively went to his pocket in one of these cases as if he were to give a yellow, but ultimately did not after reconsideration. One poor match doesn't mean that all is lost, but the Napoli game being rescheduled to a date that is already jam-packed with tough matches makes it hard to believe that the players won't be burnt out. Awful game to end the year with, but hopefully the players get some good rest and are able to come back stronger.
