Serie A champions Juventus, weakened by a series of departures in the close season, slumped to a shock 1-0 home defeat against Udinese in their opening game of the new Italian league campaign yesterday.
Defeat ended Juve’s 47-match unbeaten home league record – a run stretching back to January 2013 – and ensured that the Turin side began their pursuit of a fifth straight title in miserable fashion.
Juve enjoyed the lion’s share of the chances, with new boy Mario Mandzukic impressing, but were unable to respond when French striker Cyril Thereau finished from close range after 78 minutes following an excellent cross from Panagiotis Kone.
“We are still under construction,” Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri, who has lost Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal from last season, told Sky Sports Italia.
“We must have patience to rebuild.
“It’s to be expected when you have so many new players, it takes a while to refine the mechanism.”
At the Artemio Franchi, Fiorentina made sure Milan’s miserable form from last season continued as they inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men in his first league game in charge.
Milan defender Rodrigo Ely was sent off after 37 minutes for a second bookable offence and Marcos Alonso sent the resulting free kick past Diego Lopez from 30 metres.
Fiorentina, now managed by former Basel coach Paulo Sousa, doubled their lead on 56 minutes when Josip Ilicic converted a penalty after Alessio Romagnoli brought down the Slovenia midfielder.
Elsewhere, Sassuolo secured a shock 2-1 triumph at home to Napoli, Chievo defeated Empoli 3-1 away and Sampdoria trounced Serie A newcomers Carpi 5-2.
Torino overcame promoted Frosinone 2-1 away, Palermo secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Genoa and Inter defeated Atalanta 1-0 with Stevan Jovetic netting in injury time.
Serie A
Played yesterday
Empoli 1
Saponara 8;
Chievo 3
Meggiorini 55; Birsa 60; Paloschi 64;
HT: 1-0. Att: 9,000.
Fiorentina 2
Alonso 38; Ilicic 56 pen.;
Milan 0
HT: 1-0. Att: 33,904.
Red card: Ely (M) 37.
Frosinone 1
Soddimo 7;
Torino 2
Quagliarella 59; Baselli 65;
HT: 1-0. Att: 9,500.
Inter 1
Jovetic 90;
Atalanta 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 37,042.
Red card: Carmona (A) 71.
Juventus 0
Udinese 1
Thereau 78;
HT: 0-0. Att: 38,697.
Palermo 1
El Kaoutari 90;
Genoa 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 22,608.
Sampdoria 5
Eder 14 pen., 33; Muriel 21, 31; Fernando 37;
Carpi 2
Lazzari 38; Matos 88;
HT: 5-1. Att: 9,000.
Red card: Ivan (S) 82.
Missed penalty: Lazzari (C) 90.
Sassuolo 2
Floro Flores 32; Sansone 84;
Napoli 1
Hamsik 3;
HT: 1-1. Att: 12,000.
Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Bologna vs Sassuolo; 20.45 Milan vs Empoli.
Sunday: 18.00 Roma vs Juventus. 20.45 Atalanta vs Frosinone; Carpi vs Inter; Chievo vs Lazio; Genoa vs Verona; Napoli vs Sampdoria; Torino vs Fiorentina; Udinese vs Palermo.