Roma caught Milan in fourth place thanks to a Gianluca Mancini thunderbolt, but Juventus are left to rue hitting the woodwork three times and an incredible Moise Kean red card.
Jose Mourinho was on the bench after winning his appeal against a two-match touchline ban for insulting the fourth official during their defeat to Cremonese. Chris Smalling returned from suspension and Lorenzo Pellegrini was able to start despite flu symptoms, but Tammy Abraham was benched again, this time for Gini Wijnaldum in a more advanced role supporting False 9 Paulo Dybala. Juve were seeking a fifth straight Serie A victory with Manuel Locatelli back from a ban, so only Mattia De Sciglio, Arkadiusz Milik and Kaio Jorge missed out.
Dybala saw his shot from the edge of the area charged down by Adrien Rabiot’s back, while Leonardo Spinazzola failed to make the most of a promising run down the left and La Joya stung Wojciech Szczesny’s gloves from distance.
Nicolò Fagioli’s first touch let him down in the box, allowing Nemanja Matic to recover, while Locatelli blasted from distance into the arms of Rui Patricio.
Juventus had a huge opportunity on 44 minutes, Danilo’s cross finding Rabiot at the back post, where the header was somehow pushed onto the upright from point-blank range by Rui Patricio.
It needed a moment of magic to break the deadlock and it came from an unexpected source, as defender Gianluca Mancini unleashed a right-foot screamer from outside the box that flew past Szczesny into the far bottom corner.
Juan Cuadrado made a decisive block on Spinazzola from Pellegrini’s pass, then the Colombian nearly scored with a curling free kick that clipped the outside of the near post.
Nicola Zalewski almost gifted Juve an equaliser with his weak header back to Rui Patricio, which Vlahovic was inches away from intercepting, and Smalling pushed a Locatelli half-volley over the bar.
Szczesny made himself big at the back post to use his torso and keep out a Smalling header on a deep cross, though the defender was probably trying to knock it back for Tammy Abraham.
Rui Patricio flew to palm away a long-range Di Maria scorcher with one hand, but Juve were unlucky to hit the woodwork for the third time, as Mancini risked an own goal on a corner.
Moise Kean came on as a substitute and incredibly managed to get himself sent off after 41 seconds for a reaction foul on Mancini, kicking him on the back of the leg.
Still Juve almost equalised with the last kick of the game, Rui Patricio spilling the Danilo strike and managing to smother at the second attempt.
Roma 1-0 Juventus
Mancini 53 (R)
Sent off: Kean 90 (J)
Player statistic
| 31' |  |
Manuel Locatelli | ||
| Nemanja Matic | |
33' |
| Gianluca Mancini (Assist: Bryan Cristante) |
 |
54' | ||
| Bryan Cristante | |
58' | ||
| Leonardo Spinazzola | |
63' | ||
| 75' | |
Filip Kostic | ||
| 90' |  |
Moise Kean |
Match statistic
