Roma stun Juve as Chievo crush Lazio
Juventus’s early season woes continued on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat to
scudetto rivals Roma as Chievo went top of Serie A with a resounding
4-0 win over Lazio.
A week after being stunned at home by Udinese, Juventus, the Italian
champions and beaten Champions League finalists, suffered a second
straight league defeat at the start of the season for the first time in
their history.
Coach Massimiliano Allegri has called for fans’ patience as several
new recruits, notably Carlos Tevez’s replacement Mario Mandzukic, settle
in at the club.
But the 48-year-old Italian suggested the Turin giants, only a few
months after a fairytale end to a double-winning season, have yet to
focus fully on the job of defending their fourth consecutive title.
“I’m not worried, but we have to change something, namely our mental
approach,” said Allegri, whose side has undergone several changes since
last season.
In a later tweet, Allegri added that Juventus have to “work to fix
the things that are not working, get the new lads settled and don’t cry
about it: let’s get back on top quickly!”
Runners-up to Juventus the past two seasons, Roma raced into a 2-0
lead with 11 minutes to play thanks to Bosnia pair Miralem Pjanic and
Edin Dzeko after Juventus had been reduced to 10 men following Patrice
Evra’s sending-off.
The champions, who sit 17th, pulled a consolation goal back, their
first of the league season, through Paulo Dybala in the final minutes.
But Roma were dominant throughout and fully deserved beating Juventus
in the league for the first time since Francesco Totti sealed a 1-0 win
in February 2013.
“We dominated them so we’re looking at the glass half-full, but we
went to sleep at the end and gave them a really soft goal,” Roma captain
Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sport.
“But I think we played incredibly. You can’t forget, Juventus were
challenging for the Champions League (in the final) a few months ago.”
Having slipped to a 1-1 draw at Verona
last week, Roma emerged among Serie A’s high-flyers on a day that
produced more than a few surprises.
Lazio, whose Champions League group stage hopes were ended midweek in
the play-off by Bayer Leverkusen, looked despondent as Chievo ran riot
at their Bentegodi stadium.
Riccardo Meggiorino’s opener took a deflection before bobbling past
Lazio goalkeeper Etrit Berisha on 12 minutes, but his next trick was far
more impressive.
As a cross from the left was swept beyond the far post, Meggiorini
somehow got his heel to the ball and knocked it back in towards Alberto
Paloschi, who beat Berisha with a firm header from close range.
Former AC Milan forward Walter Birsa all but wrapped up the points
for the hosts on the stroke of half-time when he curled the perfect free
kick into Berisha’s top right-hand corner.
Paloschi, another ex-Milan forward, had his second of the night just after the hour mark as Lazio crumbled.
“The lads fully deserved the win, but that doesn’t mean it was easy,” said Chievo coach Rolando Maran.
On-loan Manchester City forward Stevan Jovetic, meanwhile, took his
goals tally at Inter Milan to three from two games as the Nerazzurri
chalked up a second successive win, 2-1 at new boys Carpi.
Gonzalo Higuain opened his account this season with a first half brace as Napoli raced to a 2-0 lead at home to Sampdoria.
But an Eder penalty on the hour reduced the arrears and the
Brazil-born Italy international levelled the match just a minute later
as Napoli settled for their first point of the campaign.
In Turin, Fiorentina were given a 10th minute lead by Marco Alonso
but two goals in the space of two minutes from Emiliano Moretti and
Fabio Quagliarella turned the match on its head.
Torino sealed the points with their third on 77 minutes, thanks to
Daniele Baselli’s crisp shot from inside the area to move up to second.
