Wojciech Szczesny had an evening to forget in Reggio-Emilia as Juventus collapsed in a 4-2 loss to Sassuolo, generating much criticism from the Italian press.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side were always on the back foot at the Mapei Stadium on Saturday night, going 1-0 down after 12 minutes after an Armand Lauriente opener. Matias Vina scored an own goal to level things out before Domenico Berardi put Sassuolo ahead once again before half time.
In the second half, Federico Chiesa again drew Juventus level but four minutes later Andrea Pinamonti restored Sassuolo’s lead. In the dying minutes of the match, Federico Gatti netted a brutally painful own goal to cap off a miserable evening for Allegri’s side.
One player who particularly disappointed was Szczesny, who made a fatal error in Lauriente’s opener and generally disappointed, conceding three goals despite facing an expected goals on target (xGOT) of 1.47 – not including Gatti’s own goal.
La Gazzetta dello Sport didn’t mince their words when reflecting on the Pole’s performance, writing: “A horror show. The first goal conceded is a masterpiece of clumsiness, the 4-2 with him wide on the left cannot be seen. And even on Pinamonti’s goal the rebound is not faultless.”
Corriere dello Sport were no more forgiving, unimpressed with his work between the posts, commenting: “Lauriente’s right-footer is powerful and sudden, perhaps the trajectory went down, but the mistake remains, not the only one. He helped Gatti make a mistake – you almost never go through horizontal lines.”
Tuttosport didn’t stray from the pack, agreeing with the poor reviews of Szczesny, saying: “A couple of hesitant saves as a bad omen, before the disaster on Lauriente’s convenient shot.”
Szczesny’s ratings in the Italian newspapers
Gazzetta dello Sport: 4
Corriere dello Sport: 4
Tuttosport: 4