Immobile brace ends Juventus run

Ciro Immobile scored a second-half brace as Lazio won 2-1 in Turin to inflict a first home defeat in two years on Serie A champions Juventus on Saturday.

Juventus’ top scorer Paulo Dybala missed a late penalty as Juventus lost at home for the first time since against Udinese in August 2015.

Since then the six-time defending champions had notched up 38 wins and three draws.

Douglas Costa, who arrived in Turin on loan from Bayern Munich in July, got the hosts off to a bright start on 23 minutes with his first goal off a rebound following a Thomas Strakosha save from Sami Khedira.

But Lazio dominated the second half as Immobile pulled the Romans ahead with a seven-minute double, the second a penalty past Gianluigi Buffon on 54 minutes to move top of the Serie A scorers ahead of Dybala with 11 goals in eight matches.

The victory moves Lazio up to third, equal on 19 points with Juventus.

Leaders Napoli, on 21 points, have the chance to pull further ahead when they take on Roma later Saturday.

“We had the warning signs against Torino, Sassuolo and Atalanta. We have these drops in concentration and pay a heavy price for them,” Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri told Mediaset Premium.

“Between Bergamo (Atalanta) and today we have dropped five points and haven’t realised yet that to win the Scudetto you must fight every single day. It’s a hard slog. Some were a little tired, others carrying knocks, but these are not excuses, as we dropped five points.

“Now we’ve got an important game on Wednesday against Sporting in the Champions League and we have to win.”

Dybala came off the bench and his effort hit the bar, but there was more drama in stoppage time when the Argentine striker stepped up for the last kick of the game but his penalty was saved by Strakosha.

The last time the two sides met was in the Italian Super Cup, which the Roman club won 3-2 in a stoppage-time victory.

Source: AFP