Serie A: Juve faces wait to clinch title after late defeat at Udinese

Ilija Nestorovski scored the equaliser for Udinese with a diving header seven minutes after the break before Seko Fofana scored the winner in the 92nd minute.

Published : Jul 24, 2020 01:20 IST

Udinese, with a surprising over Juventus, has assured itself of Serie A safety for the next 12 months.
Udinese, with a surprising over Juventus, has assured itself of Serie A safety for the next 12 months.
lightbox-info

Udinese, with a surprising over Juventus, has assured itself of Serie A safety for the next 12 months.

Juventus must wait to claim a ninth successive Serie A title after it slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat at lowly Udinese on Thursday with Seko Fofana scoring a stoppage-time winner.

Needing a win to wrap up the title with three games to spare, Juve went ahead with a long-range shot by defender Matthijs de Ligt three minutes before halftime.

However, Ilija Nestorovski's diving header and Fofana's superb individual effort stunned the Turin side on a stifling evening.

Highlights: Juve suffers shocking 2-1 defeat

Juventus, which has won only one of its last five games and has dropped 18 points from winning positions this season, stays on 80 points followed by Atalanta with 74 and Inter Milan on 73 with three games each to play.

Fourth-placed Lazio, which has four matches remaining starting against Cagliari later on Thursday, has 69 points. The win took Udinese up to 15th place on 39 points, seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Atalanta's next match is at AC Milan on Friday while Inter visits Genoa on Saturday and Juve hosts Sampdoria on Sunday.

Juventus had a lucky escape when Danilo headed Ken Sema's cross against the post while Udinese's Bram Nuytinck was also spared embarrassment when his back pass almost trickled into the net but goalkeeper Juan Musso pushed it wide just in time.

ALSO READ|

Musso also did well to turn away a Paulo Dybala shot and Cristiano Ronaldo was close from long-range before Juve broke the deadlock three minutes before halftime.

A Udinese clearance landed at the feet of De Ligt and the Dutchman took one touch and drove a low shot into the net from 25 metres.

However, Udinese found a deserved equaliser seven minutes after the restart. Sema swung a cross over to the far post where Nestorovski met it with a diving header which flew into the net.

Udinese then defended doggedly before snatching the winner on the break through Fofana. The Ivorian collected a loose ball on the halfway line, charged forward, nutmegged De Ligt and slotted his shot under goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to give his side a vital and memorable win.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment