Looking to bounce back from their humiliating 4-0 midweek defeat to Chelsea, Juventus failed to get going during a frustrating opening 45 minutes. Intent on disrupting the hosts’ attacking play, a scrappy Atalanta picked up three yellow cards from referee Giovanni Ayroldi. Their game plan paid off, though, as ‘La Dea’ entered the break in front for the fourth time in five Serie A matches.
Following a lacklustre first half, Massimiliano Allegri would’ve no doubt demanded an improvement from his side during the interval, and the ‘Bianconeri’ did take the game to their opponents after the break. Federico Bernardeschi and Adrien Rabiot both tried their luck unsuccessfully from range, before Paulo Dybala fired high over the crossbar from a tight angle. Yet, despite Juve’s endeavour, Juan Musso remained relatively untroubled in the Atalanta goal.
Having found the net twice during last weekend’s 2-0 win over Lazio, Leonardo Bonucci passed up a chance to add to his goals tally, skewing a free header well wide of the target. Dybala clipped the top of the crossbar with a free-kick in added time, but relentless pressure from the home side failed to pay off as Juventus slumped to their fifth defeat of an uncharacteristically poor campaign.
History-makers Atalanta, meanwhile, remain unbeaten on the road in Serie A this season, with this result ending a run of 28 trips to the ‘Old Lady’ without a win.
