Immobile Annhililates Juventus Who Suffer First Home Defeat in Two Years
A magnificent Ciro Immobile dictated and decided the outcome of a game between Juventus and Lazio which was interesting as much as breathtaking, who interrupted the Bianconeri's series of unbeaten matches with a 1-2 win.
These were three precious points for Lazio, who closed the gap that distanced them from the Serie A champions and are now placed second, only two points from leaders Napoli. The Roman side relied heavily on the likes of Ciro Immobile and Louis Alberto, who proved to be a lethal duo against big teams.
Juventus lost their first league match despite ardently fighting back and trying to fix the result. If Napoli win Saturday night's clash against Roma, the Bianconeri could see their chances to win their seventh Scudetto fade away just two months into the season.
Despite starting out quite slowly, the game changed radically around the half-hour mark with Lazio making a positive and controlled ball possession, leaving Juventus stuck in their defensive area. After 30 minutes, however, it was the home team who eventually broke the deadlock with a lucky rebound goal by Douglas Costa, the first since he joined the Serie A champions this summer.
Asamoah ran towards Strakosha's box from the left flank and served a splendid assist to Sami Khedira, who shot the ball. The Lazio keeper made an initial great safe pushing the ball away from him, but Douglas Costa was lucky enough to be in front of him and sent the ball into the net. Uncertain as to whether it was an offside goal, the referee Mazzoleni checked with the VAR and only then declared the goal regular.
Yet, it only took one minute to Ciro Immobile to score the equaliser against the home outfit. Profiting from Juventus defence's mistakes, he received the ball from co-star Luis Alberto, and found himself alone in front of Buffon. He then curled a magnificent shot into the net, with the Bianconeri goalkeeper unable to stop it.
The second half fired up very quickly, as Lazio who managed to turn the result around after only ten minutes. Short after the equalising goal, Immobile was again running alone into the Juventus box; Buffon tried to stop him but his intervention was ruled faulty, and a penalty was given to the Roman side. Immobile never fails and brought his side to the lead. Eleven goals in eight Serie A matches.
The second half was quite an enjoyment. Juventus tried their best to equalise, but Lazio had an incredible motivation and kept their nerves down. Both teams had good chances to score again, with Juventus boosted by the entrance of Paulo Dybala and Federico Bernardeschi for Costa and Khedira.
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Juventus went close to equalising with the Joya, who served a stunning cross to Bernardeschi from one side of the box to the other. The ex-Fiorentina man, though, missed his chance to score as a defender anticipates him. In the closing seconds, Juventus again nearly equalised with Dybala, who hit the post with a stunning shot that, however, was rebounded.
During the very last moments, a rightful penalty was given to Juventus, but Dybala, for the second time this year, saw the Bianconeri's chances to equalise die out as Strakosha made an outstanding safe for Lazio.
Lazio confirmed themselves to be a great outfit, not only able to quickly react in moments of defeat, but also and especially to limit Juventus' attacking actions. It's the first home loss since 2015 for Juventus, who could have done much better and instead failed to prove their worthiness.
