Juventus’ unbeaten start to the Serie A season came to an end on Saturday with a 4-2 loss at Sassuolo, after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny made two costly errors.
Szczesny’s howler in the 12th minute allowed Sassuolo to take the lead, and his inadvertent parry in the 82nd minute led to the hosts’ third goal.
Juventus had equalised twice through own goals from Matias Vina and Domenico Berardi, but Federico Chiesa’s equaliser in the 78th minute was not enough to prevent defeat.
Sassuolo added a fourth goal in stoppage time through defender Federico Gatti, who tapped the ball into his own net with Szczesny off his line.
The defeat leaves Juventus in fourth place on 10 points from five games, two points behind leaders Inter Milan. Sassuolo are 11th on six points.
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri said his team “paid” for their poor start to the game.
“We were not phenomenal before this game, just as we are not awful after it,” he said. “We had our heads in the clouds with the butterflies, it had started well and there were some fairly simple situations we didn’t make the most of.”
Allegri reaffirmed Szczesny as his starting goalkeeper, but hinted at unspecified changes for the upcoming match against third-placed Lecce on Tuesday.
“People said Juventus must win the title. It’s not the case, we must earn a top-four finish which will be difficult,” he said. “We must be aware that we must struggle enormously to win every game.”
