Juventus began their post- Cristiano Ronaldo era with a 1-0 loss to Empoli; Lazio thrash Spezia 6-1 at home while Fiorentina beat Torino 2-1 and Atlanta settled for a 0-0 against Bologna.
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Life after Cristiano Ronaldo got off to a worst possible start for Juventus. They were beaten 1-0 at home by newly promoted Empoli. Leonardo Mancuso scored the lone goal of the match at Turin on Saturday. The defeat came a day after Manchester United said they had reached an agreement to re-sign Ronaldo. Juve, who finished fourth in the Serie A last season, began this campaign with a 2-2 draw against Udinese. Italian forward Federico Chiesa was the lone bright spot in the Juve attack. However, the 23-year-old couldn’t find the back of the net.
The home side started the game brightly as Chiesa straight away tested Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Alez Sandro released Chiesa down the left flank and the Italian easily went past Ardian Ilmi Ismajli before forcing a save out of Vicario at the near post.
Moments later, Chiesa collected the ball at his own half and went on a solo run against the entire Empoli defence before forcing a fingertip save from Vicario.
Meanwhile at the other end, Mancuso broke the deadlock from close range. Nedim Bajrami’s attempted shot after Fillipo Bandinelli’s cut back deflected off Danilo and fell to the path of Mancuso. The 29-year-old volleyed the ball past Wojciech Szczęsny to take the lead for the away side.
Empoli continued attacking as Patrick Cutrone’s long ranger went just wide before Chiesa’s defensive header forced a problem for Szczęsny.
Allegri tried to change things up front as he brought in Alvaro Mortata, Dejan Kulusevski and Manuel Locatelli in the second half. Kuluseveski showed good footwork to dribble past a number of Empoli players and deliver a low cross for Locatelli. But the Italian’s attempt at the near post missed the target.
Juventus kept pushing for the equalizer as Locatelli’s attempt towards the end went wide and that summed up Juve’s night. Empoli held firm to claim their first win over Juve since 1999.
In the other Serie A match of the day, Lazio striker Ciro Immobile scored a first half hat-trick and saw his penalty saved at Stadio Olimpico.
Spezia took the unlikely lead through Daniele Verde in the fourth minute but Immobile quickly leveled the score within a minute. And in the 15th minute, the 31-year-old scored his second of the night from outside the box.
Although Immobile missed a penalty towards the end of first half, the Italian striker headed in from the subsequent corner to make it 3-0 for the home side.
Brazilian striker Felipe Anderson made it 4-1 after the break, and it got worse for the visitors as Kelvin Amian was sent off for Hauling back Anderson in the 54th minute.
Elseid Hysaj scored Lazio’s fifth goal in the 70th minute before Luis Alberto wrapped up the scoring for Maurizio Sarri’s side.
Fiorentina defeated Torino 2-1 in Florence. Nicolas Gonzalez and Dusan Vlahovic scored for the home side while Simone Verdi’s managed to pulled one back for Torino.
Atalanta missed a host of chances to settle for a goalless draw at home against Bologna.
