Chievo 1-0 Juventus: Sardo Strike Sinks Sorry Bianconeri - 7M sport

Chievo 1-0 Juventus: Sardo Strike Sinks Sorry Bianconeri

Posted Monday, January 18, 2010 by Goal.com

The Flying Donkeys put in a competent display, while Juve were toothless in attack.

Juventus fell to their second defeat of 2010 and an astounding seventh loss in Serie A this season with an inept display against Chievo Verona.

Juventus got back on track in midweek with a 3-0 win over Napoli in the Coppa Italia and were looking to do the job in Serie A. However, they were without strikers Amauri, David Trezeguet and Vincenzo Iaquinta. Therefore, Alessandro Del Piero started up front alongside the recalled Michele Paolucci. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also returned to the line-up. Meanwhile, Sergio Pellissier was absent for the hosts due to injury.

The first chance fell to Chievo, as Abbruscato broke through the offside trap, but Buffon was quick off his line and showed no signs of rust, blocking the effort.

The Bianconeri were struggling to create clear cut opportunities and were threatened once again as Felipe Melo had to dive in and make a decisive clearance with the goal gaping to deny Luca Rigoni.

There was havoc on 28 minutes! A deflection let Giampiero Pinzi through the defence and his low cross bounced off Giorgio Chiellini into the net! The referee disallowed the own goal for a supposed foul on the Italian international centre-back. Soon after, Jonathan Zebina came on to replace Zdenek Grygera.

It was just a warning as Chievo took a deserved lead five minutes later. Gennaro Sardo skipped past Paolo De Ceglie and unleashed a rocket into the bottom corner!

The visitors had their first real chance in first-half injury time, with Claudio Marchisio's shot blocked after Diego floated a set piece into the area.

Coach Domenico Di Carlo was no doubt pleased with the first-half display as Chievo were full value for their advantage and were severely limiting Juventus.

The second-half began with La Vecchia Signora pressing for an equaliser and Diego asked for a spot kick when the ball struck the arm of Sardo, but the official ruled that the player was too close for the action to be intentional and waved play on.

Zebina and Pablo Granoche clashed in the air and the veteran French defender came off worse, bleeding profusely from a cut on his head. Thankfully for the visitors, he eventually came back on the pitch after being heavily bandaged.

Diego earned a freekick in a promising position with some wonderful dribbling, but Del Piero's freekick was too central and easily collected by Stefano Sorrentino.

Granoche had done plenty of running and was replaced with some fresh legs in the form of Marcos de Paula. Felipe Melo was then correctly booked for a blatant dive in the area and will now miss next week's crucial clash with Roma.

With the match winding down, Chievo were content to put more and more men behind the ball, constantly frustrating Juventus' attack. Pinzi should have wrapped up the result on 85 minutes, but he fluffed his strike and it was cleared by Zebina.

Juventus were unable to find an equaliser and thus Chievo had defeated their opponents for the first time in the club's history and Ciro Ferrara's men fell out of the top three places in Serie A.

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