Ronaldo-Less Juventus Shockingly Lose to Newly-Promoted Empoli

Call it the Ronaldo(less) effect, if you want. Juventus’ first game ACR (After Cristiano Ronaldo) was meant to be just another day in the office for the Bianconeri, but newly-promoted Empoli pulled off the surprise of the day as they shocked the Allianz Stadium with a Leonardo Mancuso lone goal.

Never had the Tuscan side come even close to make a full score in Turin – having lost 12 of their previous 13 head-to-heads at Juve – but Aurelio Andreazzoli’s boys mounted a heroic resistance after opening a breach into the Old Lady’s shaky defense 20 minutes into the game. It was one of those matches that go straight into the history of a minnow team.

…and Juventus? The Bianconeri surely had a though week, which started with their frustrating 2-2 draw in Udine and culminated with CR7’s sudden flight from Turin. The situation must be pretty tense but few would have expected it could impact so much on their performance. Little did help the fact that the Allianz Stadium finally re-opened its doors to fans. On the contrary, Juve’s supporters boos at full time were heard loud and clear.

Massimiliano Allegri felt creative as Weston McKennie joined Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa on the front line to fill the gap left by CR7. In midfield, Danilo was deployed as a regista between Adrien Rabiot and Rodrigo Bentancur, with still no room for the Bianconeri new jewel Manuel Locatelli.

For Empoli, Aurelio Andreazzoli set his boys up in a 4-3-1-2 fashion, with Nedim Bajrami playing behind strikers Leonardo Mancuso and Patrick Cutrone. Newcomers Lorenzo Tonelli and Andrea Pinamonti started from the bench.

?? ?????????? ?????????? ?? ⚪️⚫️#JuveEmpoli #FinoAllaFine #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/i4IZPLn0zB

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) August 28, 2021

Juventus showed they wanted to put the past behind themselves with a relentless start, which saw Chiesa testing keeper Guglielmo Vicario only three minutes after kick off. On 11 minutes, the battle between the two continued: the Azzurro produced himself in a formidable run through the Tuscan defense that ended with a right-foot daisy cutter. The Cagliari loanee’s answer, however, was equally beautiful and kept the score unchanged. 

Then, on 20 minutes, almost out of nowhere came Empoli’s lead. Mancuso’s opener was the result of a brilliant team combination, with Filippo Bandinelli and Bajrami setting the Milan youth academy product free to look at Wojciech Szczesny in the eyes before beating him. 

Patrick Cutrone’s screamer from outside the box four minutes later confirmed that Empoli’s lead was not happening by chance. Good for the Bianconeri that the former Fiorentina striker’s effort ended wide. It seemed like watching the same movie as one week ago, with Juve starting strong and then conceding a come back, only with everything happening in a much shorter time. 

#JuventusEmpoli – La nostra formazione
EMPOLI: Vicario; Marchizza, Mancuso, Cutrone, Bajrami, Bandinelli, Ricci, Stojanovic, Haas, Luperto, Ismajli.
A disposizione: Brignoli, Furlan; Stulac, Romagnoli, Henderson, La Mantia, Fiamozzi, Tonelli, Zurkowski, Viti, Parisi, Pinamonti pic.twitter.com/elUYLPSklW

— Empoli Fc Official (@EmpoliCalcio) August 28, 2021

During the break, Allegri decided that the McKennie experiment had not worked. Alvaro Morata replaced the American in the second half. He was soon followed by Federico Bernardeschi, who took Rabiot’s place.

It was still Empoli, however, to maintain command of the operations as Szczesny had to palm away a Bajrami effort and then block the ball right on the goal line from the subsequent corner kick challenge.

On 65 minutes, it was time for Manuel Locatelli and Dejan Kulusevski. Juventus needed new ideas as Dybala appeared particularly uninspired, while Vicario continued to stay alert and avert all the few threats posed to him. Not that he had much to do, if truth be told. The rest of the game passed with no real scoring chances from either side as Empoli defended themselves with composure to conquer three fundamental points.

Massimiliano Allegri’s last change in Mattia De Sciglio for Juan Cuadrado – a defender for a defender with his side one goal down – showed that there is definitely something going wrong in Turin. The international break will be a blessing for the Bianconeri and so will the imminent arrival of new striker Moise Kean. This version of Juventus is just too bad to be true.

?⚽ L'esultanza di Leonardo Mancuso dopo il gol del vantaggio azzurro all'Allianz Stadium contro i bianconeri#JuveEmpoli pic.twitter.com/2JNbGsVcDX

— Empoli Fc Official (@EmpoliCalcio) August 28, 2021

 

MATCH SCORECARD

August 28, 2021 – Serie A 2021-22 Round 2
JUVENTUS-EMPOLI 0-1

SCORERS: 21′ Mancuso

REFEREE: Mr. Ghersini from Genoa
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Danilo, Bernardeschi (I), Stojanovic, Cutrone, Ismajli (E); Added Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 5′