Surprises never seems to stop happening in Serie A as this weekend shocking results arrives for two big clubs, Juventus and As Roma, that suffered defeats in their latest league matches this weekend.
The Bianconeri suffered a 2-0 defeat against relegation battler Lecce, while the Giallorossi received their fourth loss in a row after the capital club surrender a three goal lead against Genoa.
10 Man Juventus Stunned by Lecce
Having a big confidence boost after beating Scudetto candidate, Inter Milan, last weekend, Juventus came to Via Del Marre in a positive mood with Luca Toni and Alessandro Matri partnership once again being played up front. However, Lecce that have a pretty good record at home weren’t scared of the challenge and surprised the away team with their fast attacking play that led to the dismissal of Gianluigi Buffon in the 12 minutes after the keeper handled the ball outside of the penalty box in his attempt to stop Davide Di Michele.
Buffon’s red card forced Juve to make an early switch, leaving Milos Krasic out for Marco Storari, who finally gets his chance again after being relegated to the bench in the last few games with the Italian number one’s return from injury. Unfortunately, Storari’s return to action didn’t bring a good luck for his team as the home team finally took the lead in the 32 minute through Mesbah, who easily rolling the ball pass the visitor’s net after receiving a pass from Gianni Munari.
Playing with 10 men is really too much of a task for Juve as things gets even worse early in the second half after Lecce got their second goal less than five minutes of the second period after Andrea Bertolacci tapped in beats Storari for the second time. Once again the goal occurred after a rather poor defensive display by the Bianconeri’s back line, that surprisingly played very high and looked very disorganize after their fine display against Inter last weekend.
Roma’s Slump Continues As They Throw Away A 3-0 Lead
A splendid match occurred at Luigi Ferraris marking Roma’s fourth consecutive defeat which this time could really enraged their already furious fans as the capital side amazingly gave away a three goal lead and eventually lost 4-3. Playing away in a difficult ground, the Giallorossi actually started the half in a very positive way as they took a two goals lead before the first period ended with goals from Philipe Mexes and Nicolas Burdisso.
Early in the second half, things seemed to look very good for Roma as they get their third goal through Francesco Totti, whose left footed drive stormed into Genoa’s bottom corner. Just as things looked bright for the away side, Genoa slowly made their comeback as just a minute after the Giallorossi’s third goal, the home side pulled a goal back through Rodrigo Palacio’s easy tap in from just seven yards.
Palacio’s goal spurred Genoa to life as 16 minutes later, the home team successfully got their second goal after substitute striker, Alberto Paloschi, maximizing Floro Flores’ blocked shot to reduce the gap and caused panic for the away team. Around six minute later, the capital side’s fear came after Palacio once again beat Julio Sergio on Roma’s goal to make the scoreline level again.
As if getting back from a three goal down isn’t enough, the Griffone keept on pouring forward, maximizing Roma players’ low morae and eventually got the fourth goal through Paloshi again. The Ac Milan owned youngster volleyed Palacio’s cross to give a devastating blow to the Giallorossi’s day as the home team amazingly turned the game around in just 22 minutes! This defeat will surely brought more distraught for the capital side’s fans who have already staged their protest over the team’s current poor form after the new year.
Match Reports:
Lecce v Juventus 2-0
Goals: Mesbah 32, Bertolacci 48 (Lecce)
Lecce: Rosati; Donati, Fabiano, Ferrario, Brivio; Vives; Munari, Bertolacci (Coppola 91), Grossmuller, Mesbah (Rispoli 85); Di Michele (Chevanton 53)
Juventus: Buffon; Sorensen (Iaquinta 58), Bonucci, Barzagli, Chiellini; Krasic (Storari 12), Melo, Aquilani, Marchisio; Matri, Toni (Del Piero 46)
Genoa v As Roma 4-3
Goals: Palacio 52, 74; Paloschi 68, 85 (Genoa); Mexes 6, Burdisso 16, Totti 51 (Roma)
Genoa: Eduardo; Mesto, Kaladze, Dainelli, Criscito; Rafinha, Kucka, Milanetto (Veloso 61), Rossi (Paloschi 64); Palacio, Floro Flores (Moretti 81)
Roma: Julio Sergio; N Burdisso, Mexes, Juan, Riise; Greco, Brighi, Simplicio (Menez 64), Perrotta (Taddei 10); Borriello (Loria 72), Totti
photo credit: :: Suwaif ::
