Serie A, Juventus handed 3-0 defeat by Fiorentina: Records broken
Serie A champions Juventus suffered their first league loss of the 2020-21 season as their 10 men were humbled at home by Fiorentina. Juve's ex-Chelsea mid-fielder Juan Cuadrado was sent off for a lunge on Gaetano Castrovilli in the 18th minute. Juventus never managed to rally themselves and lost ground. The Turin giants are fourth in the Serie A standings. Here's more.
Fiorentina got the opener in the third minute after Dusan Vlahovic lifted a composed finish over Wojciech Szczesny. Cristiano Ronaldo had a header chalked off for offside before an Alex Sandro own goal and a Martin Caceres effort sealed a famous victory for Fiorentina. Meanwhile, Cuadrado was sent off, with the referee consulting his pitchside monitor and upgrading an initial yellow to a red.
On December 22, Napoli won an appeal at the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) over a point deduction for missing their Serie A game at Juventus in October. The clubs will now meet in a rearranged fixture after Juve were originally awarded a 3-0 win. This decision sees Napoli move up to third in the table on the same number of points as Juve.
With Cuadrado being sent off against Fiorentina, Juventus have received the joint-most red cards in the top-5 European leagues this season (five). As per Opta, Dusan Vlahovic, who scored in three successive Serie A appearances for Fiorentina, became the second player to achieve this feat after Giampaolo Pazzini in April 2005, before turning 22.
As per Opta, Juventus have lost their first Serie A match at Allianz Stadium with a goal margin of three-plus goals.
The likes of AC Milan and Inter can establish a 10 and nine-point lead over Juventus when they play their respective matches tonight in gameweek 14. Napoli too can steer clear as Roma and Sassuolo can push Juve to sixth.
