Forget about extending their record run of nine straight Serie A titles, at this rate Juventus might not even qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
Atalanta BC, Serie A’s ongoing Cinderella story, on Sunday beat the Bianconeri 1-0 with a late goal from Ruslan Malinovskyi to leapfrog Andrea Agnelli’s club into third place.
The defeat came on a day of reports that Juventus is part of a group of European teams renewing threats to walk away from the Champions League and create a new European Super League.
Photo: AFP
Juventus dropped to fourth — which carries the final Champions League berth — two points behind Atalanta and had their advantage over fifth-placed SSC Napoli cut to two points after the Partenopei held league leaders Inter to a 1-1 draw.
“We have to focus only on ourselves,” Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo said. “I am convinced there will be no problem achieving our objective.”
Juventus have won only one of their past four matches and lost twice in that span — with the other defeat coming at home against promoted Benevento last month.
What is more, Atalanta now also hold the advantage over Juventus if a tiebreaker is needed. Head-to-head records are the first criteria used in Italy and the teams drew 1-1 in December last year.
Juventus were missing the injured Cristiano Ronaldo and produced few chances in Bergamo before Malinovskyi’s shot in the 87th minute took a major deflection off Alex Sandro and sent goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny the wrong way.
“They were lucky with the late goal,” Pirlo said. “It’s disappointing. We could have brought home at least a point.”
It marked Atalanta’s first victory over Juventus in Serie A in more than two decades — since February 2001.
It was just the latest in a series of exploits from Atalanta, who reached the quarter-finals of last season’s Champions League.
“This win means we can beat them,” Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said. “The victory is justified and we are proud of it.”
Juventus have failed to win all four Serie A matches that Ronaldo has missed this season, including two when he had COVID-19 and another when he was rested.
“It’s no coincidence — Ronaldo scored 25 goals this season and he was excellent in the first leg with Atalanta, too,” Pirlo said. “He’s suited for these games and is our main finisher. When missing the killer instinct in the box, it’s slightly different. We still created our chances today, though, so I don’t think it made that much difference.”
Inter’s 11-match winning streak ended with a draw at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where Napoli went ahead following an own-goal from goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.
Christian Eriksen equalized after halftime with a booming long-range shot.
Inter’s lead over AC Milan was reduced to nine points with seven matches remaining.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic suspended, an own-goal from Genoa striker Gianluca Scamacca proved the winner for Milan in a 2-1 victory.
Milan’s first home win in more than two months made sure the Rossoneri held onto second place.
Scamacca turned away when a corner-kick sailed over the head of Mario Mandzukic, and the ball ricocheted off his back and into the goal.
Ante Rebic had put Milan ahead early with a long-range half-volley.
Mattia Destro then equalized for Genoa with a header following poor defending by Fikayo Tomori.
SS Lazio also got two own-goals in a 5-3 win over Benevento for their fifth straight victory, moving the sixth-placed Roman club within four points of Juventus.
Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi missed the game against his brother and coaching counterpart Filippo Inzaghi with COVID-19.
Ciro Immobile scored twice — the first his 150th in Serie A — and Joaquin Correa converted a penalty for Lazio, which also got own-goals from Fabio Depaoli and Lorenzo Montipo.
Relegation-threatened Torino came back from a goal down for a 3-1 win over AS Roma, while Bologna beat Spezia 4-1.
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