Juventus’ unbeaten league run comes to an abrupt end after leaving out Cristiano Ronaldo in defeat at Genoa

JUVENTUS were made to pay for resting Cristiano Ronaldo as they suffered their first defeat of the season at Genoa.

The Old Lady’s quest to go the entire campaign unbeaten ended abruptly after the home side scored two late goals to sink the Italian champions.

Boss Massimiliano Allegri left Ronaldo out of the squad despite his stunning hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the week.

He can be excused for resting the 34-year-old with the Serie A title already seemingly in the bag.

Heading into the clash, the current champions had won a whopping 24 out of 27 matches and sat 18 points above Napoli in second place.

But Genoa weren’t willing to stick with the script and it was Juve’s former midfielder Stefano Stuaro who opened the scoring.

Veteran team-mate Goran Pandev laid the ball into his path and he took one touch before curling a strike past Mattia Perin.

He had only signed on a permanent deal from Juventus in February and it sent the home side into raptures.

Members of the bench and coaching staff even ran onto the field to join in on the celebrations.

It would get even better for Genoa nine minutes from time with Pandev rolled back the years with their second of the contest.

Cristian Kouame sparked a wonderful counter attack from a Juventus corner and played it into the path of the 35-year-old who struck a crisp left-footed strike into the corner.

It was fully deserved for the home side as Juventus remarkably failed to record a single shot on target.

And it was also the first time that the current Serie A champions lost a Serie A match by a two-goal margin since May 2017.