Cristiano Ronaldo missing in action as Genoa hand Juventus first Serie A defeat
- Genoa vs Juventus:saw the home-side take the lead through Stefano Sturaro, a former Juventus player
- Juventus struggled with Cristiano Ronaldo rested as Paulo Dybala had a goal disallowed by VAR for an offside
- The Bianconeri remain 18 points clear at the top of Serie A table despite the defeat
Genoa defeated Juventus 2-0 defeat in their first Serie A defeat of the 2018-19 campaign on Sunday, March 17, at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
The encounter saw the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo missing from the Old Lady’s matchday squad after their Champions League heroics last week
The home-side were in the front foot fight from the start of the contest and almost took the lead after in the 17th minute when Antonio Sanabria had space to punish, but his effort the box was well read by Juventus shot-stopper, Martin Caceres.
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The stanza ended without much response from Juventus with scores at 0-0 going into the break.
Juventus looked to have taken the lead from a Dybala strike in the 55th minutes, but for the VAR technology cancelled the goal, even as a free-kick was awarded against Juve for off-side play.
Genoa continued pressing for the winner and had a penalty appeal denied by VAR after threatening Juventus backline.
But after 72nd minute of action Goran Pandev turned it an assists after Stefano Sturaro netted the opener inside the box to see Genoa lead Juventus by 1-0.
With 10 minutes left on the clock the home-side further compounded Juventus woes after Pandev scored from a Cristian Kouame pass.
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Despite other chances by both sides, Genoa held on to see that the defending champions Juve suffered their first defeat in the Italian topflight at the blast of the final whistle.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Massimiliano Allegri believes UEFA will not ban Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of next month’s UCL quarter-final clash against Ajax for ‘cojones’ goal celebration, following Juventus' 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid.
The Portuguese star, who was on top of his game netted three times, cancelling out Atletico's 2-0 advantage from the first-leg, to ensure Juventus progress to the quarter-finals.
Interestingly, Ronaldo celebrated one of his goals in similar way Diego Simeone reacted after winning the first leg, but was later slammed €20,000 as fine by UEFA.
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Source: Legit.ng