Juventus 1-2 Sassuolo: 5 talking points as inspid Bianconeri concede stoppage-time winner | Serie A 2021-22
Juventus were stunned 2-1 by Sassuolo in Serie A as Maxime Lopez struck an injury-time winner to pile more misery on the former champions. Davide Frattesi opened the scoring for Neroverdi in the dying moments of the first half before Weston McKennie equalised for the hosts midway through the second.
The game was headed for a draw, but Lopez capitalised on Juventus' calamitous defending. He broke into a counter before chipping over Mattia Perin for a 95th-minute winner.
Juventus had no time left to muster a response, losing to Sassuolo on home soil for the first time in their history. On that note. here are the five major talking points from the game:
#5 Juventus left to rue missed first-half chances
Given how the first half ended, no one really expected Juventus to lose this game. The hosts were absolutely dominant, controlling the ball and creating better chances, but poor finishing let them down.
Leonardo Bonucci fired a decent free-kick from Federico Chiesa wide off target early on before Dybala saw a shot come off the crossbar. Just minutes later, Chiesa joined the act too, but to no avail. He failed to maintain his composure, firing his effort into the stands.
The wrong side of the post but what an effort from Paulo Dybala https://t.co/hhpXLQQwmB
That's three good chances gone begging inside the opening 38 minutes of the game. That was a real let-off for Sassuolo, who then immediately struck with the opener in the 44th minute.
#4 McKennie's goal masks another poor game for the star
The young American star won plaudits for bringing Juventus level with his first strike of the season, thumping home a fine header off Dybala's free-kick.
However, it masked an otherwise poor game he had on the night. Despite his goal, there has been a growing clamour that McKennie shouldn't start for Juventus regularly.
Weston McKennie scores his first goal of the season for Juventus.
𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗧 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗡𝗦 🤩 https://t.co/TXD1vgwS5f
The 23-year-old looked off the pace and struggled to control midfield, getting dribbled past twice. His forward runs, though few and far between, didn't yield anything meaningful either. Both his crosses went begging, and he lost possession a staggering 14 times.