Irony is dead.
Any irony that might have been left, in the entire world, Juventus’ game against Sassuolo on Sunday obliterated it. You remember the “puny god” scene with Hulk and Loki at the end of the original Avengers movie? Loki is the irony.
The sequence of events that led to Sassuolo’s 3-2 victory on the last kick of the game was absurd. After Juventus equalized the Neroverdi twice in the game’s final 10 minutes — including in stoppage time for the second consecutive game — for it to come down
to a shot by Vasilije Adzic was mind-bending. Mind-bending because a midfielder like Adzic would’ve been incredibly useful given Juventus’ current injury crisis. Mind-bending — no, mind-shattering — because it was a year to the day since Adzic had scored his first Serie A goal for Juventus. You know the one. The long-distance missile that won a crazy Derby d’Italia.
There were so many things about this game that one could talk about. Juventus’ completely stagnant attack certainly deserves mention. So does the complete breakdown of a defense that, through the season’s first three weeks, was at least looking like something that the club could hang their hat on. Even the late double by Edon Zhegrova, who deserved such an outing after such a rough first year in Turn. But ultimately, the result — a backbreaking loss — and the guy who inflicted it just keeps on sticking out.
I mean, a year to the day!
Luciano Spalletti’s choices were incredibly limited heading into the match, missing eight players going into the game. Manuel Locatelli and Jérémie Boga were new additions to that club this week, joining Kenan Yildiz, Weston McKennie, Andrea Cambiaso, Khéphren Thuram, Jeff Ekhator, and Juan Cabal. Guglielmo Vicario started in goal behind Spalletti’s usual 4-2-3-1. Pierre Kalulu, Bremer, Jhon Lucumí, and Zeki Çelik made up the back four, while Teun Koopmeiners took over for Locatelli next to Douglas Luiz in the double pivot. Francico Concieção, Nico González, and Kerim Alajbegovic started behind Randal Kolo Muani in attack. It was the first starting lineup in club history to have no Italian outfield players, according to Opta records.
Opposite Spalletti in the dugout was his former midfielder — and onetime Juventus player — Alberto Aquilani. They younger coach was also missing some important names, particularly Cristian Volpato. Fali Candé, Daniel Boloca, Edoardo Pieragnolo and Ismael Koné joined him in the stands, with Kieron Bowie only fit for the bench. Aquilani mirrored his old boss’ setup, sending out keeper Arijanet Muric behind Simone Cinquegrano, Fedde Leysen, Jay Idzes, and Josh Doig in defense. Thirty-eight-year-old Nemanja Matic joined 21-year-old Luca Lipani in midfield, while Domenico Berardi, Kristian Thorstvedt, and Armand Laurienté started in support of Sebastian Esposito.
The game very nearly started with a bang when Çelik and Alajbegovic matriculated the ball down the left side and fed in González, who clipped the top of the crossbar with his right foot. But after that, things started to fizzle. It took nearly 20 minutes for either side to register another shot, a blocked effort by Alajbegovic. Close to the half hour mark Vicario jumped off his line to deny Berardi after he had scooped the ball to him by Esposito. The striker took matters into his own hands a few moments later but missed the far post, and Vicario would’ve covered it had he not. Berardi had a rip at a volley off a defensive header but put it right at Vicario, but that moment punctuated just how little went down in a very uneventful first half.
Lucumí was pulled at halftime for Lloyd Kelly after picking up a booking midway through the first, a move that, while sensible at the time, turned into a major problem later on. Alajbegovic forced Muric into action within 50 seconds of the restart, while Sassuolo continued to look their most dangerous on the counter, with Berardi forcing Vicario into a diving parry just a few minutes later. Alajbegovic again forced Muric into a parry from long range, but Juve still struggled to find the kind of play to completely break the hosts down.
It was with 25 minutes left when the defensive lapses started. Somehow, Bremer and Kalulu managed to let Esposito stand alone in a massive swath of space, making it easy for Matic to roll the ball into the right channel for the striker to finish across a stranded Vicario.
Douglas Luiz was close to an instant response, but his shot three minutes after play restarted was palmed away by Muric. But the big Kosovo international was less effective in the 82nd minute. He came for a cross from the left but didn’t get anything on it, and the ball dropped to Zhegrova on the other side of the field. The defense scrambled to cover with Muric out of place, but Zhegrova let the shooting lane open up after Muric committed himself and slotted the ball into the far bottom corner to tie the score and finally tally his first official goal in a Juventus shirt.
Nick Woltemade headed a corner wide from point blank range minutes after the equalizer, but the defense crumbled a second time with a minute left in regulation. Daryl Bakola glided past a shockingly ineffective tackle from Bremer before squaring the ball neatly for Bowie, who had been left completely alone by Kelly as he ran to challenge the French teenager. His first-time finish neatly nestled into the net past Vicario, who was visibly furious with his defense as he chucked the ball to the center circle to get the game underway as quickly as possible.
But Juve — more acurrately, Zhegrova — wasn’t done. After receiving a pass from Kalulu, he ran a nice give-and-go with Kolo Muani before ripping another low shot, this one blasting through the left hand of his international teammate to even the score a second time.
Juve poured forward to look for a late winner, but it was Sassuolo who had the last laugh. After Kolo Muani took too much time to shoot and was dispossessed by Matic, the Bianconeri suddenly found themselves shorthanded in the back. Laurienté took the ball on the counter and found Adzic on a great switch. Douglas Luiz was the only defender back, and he was in an unwinnable situation defending against three men. Adzic curled it around Vicario and in at the far post, and then showed class in declining to celebrate as the rest of his teammates went crazy around him.
