Juventus suffered a chaotic 3-2 defeat away to Sassuolo, with Vasilije Adzic scoring the winner with the last kick of the game after Edon Zhegrova’s brace had twice pulled the Bianconeri level. The pre-match expectation of a tough test at the Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore proved accurate in the most dramatic fashion possible.
Sebastiano Esposito broke the deadlock for the hosts in the 65th minute, finishing coolly after Pierre Kalulu was caught out by an offside-trap run set up by Nemanja Matic’s pass. Zhegrova, introduced from the bench, levelled things in the 82nd minute with a driven finish that cut inside two defenders – his first Juventus goal in an official match since November 2024.
Sassuolo responded almost immediately through Kieron Bowie, who swept in Darryl Bakola’s cutback in the 89th minute. Zhegrova struck again in the first minute of stoppage time with a low, first-time finish off a Randal Kolo Muani assist to make it 2-2, only for Adzic to have the final say in the 94th minute, curling a right-footed effort past a tiring Juventus defence for the winner.
The result compounds an already difficult week for Luciano Spalletti, whose side were without Manuel Locatelli after the midfielder underwent meniscus surgery, alongside a lengthy absentee list including Jeremie Boga, Weston McKennie, Andrea Cambiaso, Kenan Yildiz, Khephren Thuram, Jeff Ekhator and Juan Cabal. Sassuolo were similarly stretched, missing Cristian Volpato, Fali Candé, Daniel Boloca, Edoardo Pieragnolo and Ismael Koné, while Bowie himself was only fit enough for a place on the bench before coming on to score.
Juventus did not start a single outfield Italian player in Serie A for the first time in the club’s history, a detail underlining the scale of Spalletti’s selection headache. Adzic, on loan at Sassuolo from Juventus, faced his parent club and scored the decisive goal.
Juventus finished the match with 55% possession and 18 total shots to Sassuolo’s 10, eight of them on target compared with the hosts’ six, numbers that will offer little consolation after conceding two goals in the final quarter of an hour.
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