Juventus came back twice from a goal down, but suffered their first defeat of the season in a 4-2 thriller, as a Domenico Berardi stunner, two Wojciech Szczesny howlers and an extraordinary Fabio Gatti own goal proved decisive.
The Bianconeri were fresh from victory over Lazio and free from European commitments, missing only Alex Sandro, Mattia De Sciglio and of course Paul Pogba after his failed doping test. Domenico Berardi spent much of the summer trying to join Juve, but captained his team here after fumbling a 2-0 lead in their 4-2 defeat to Frosinone, with Agustin Alvarez and Alessio Cragno injured.
Adrien Rabiot nodded over and Dusan Vlahovic just failed to reach a Federico Chiesa cross with his head from six yards, but after a strong start, Juve found themselves trailing after 12 minutes.
Armand Laurienté cut inside from the left and unleashed a right-foot strike from the edge of the area that Wojciech Szczesny tried to take the sting out of at the near post, but seemed surprised by the ferocity of the finish, which bounced off his gloves and into the net.
Juve fought back and equalised with their own stroke of luck, as Matias Vina and Weston McKennie both went sliding in to meet a Chiesa cross at the back post, the Sassuolo defender getting there first.
Manuel Locatelli’s effort was deflected just wide, but Szczesny made up for the earlier howler with a sensational one-handed save on the Ruan Tressoldi free header from a corner, palming it off the line.
However, Sassuolo restored their advantage when Matheus Henrique won it back in midfield and set up Domenico Berardi to sweep into the far bottom corner with the inside of the left boot. It was the ideal way to mark his 300th Serie A appearance, all of them in the Neroverdi jersey.
Ruan Tressoldi risked giving away another penalty for handball, but the offside flag rendered the situation irrelevant.
Chiesa tried to roll a free kick under the wall as it jumped and it almost worked, grazing the upright, while Berardi risked more than a yellow card for a high tackle on Bremer’s shin.
It really should’ve been 3-1 for Sassuolo on 64 minutes when a simply inspired slide-rule pass from Berardi sent Laurienté clear on goal only for him to balloon the finish over the bar.
Moments later, Vlahovic – who was probably offside anyway – scuffed a finish inches wide, then Samuel Iling Junior made a decisive tackle as Berardi sent Laurienté clear again.
Juventus got back on level terms again when Iling knocked on a Timothy Weah cross and Nicoló Fagioli laid it off for Chiesa to strike first-time from 14 yards, beating the goalkeeper at the near post with a slight deflection.
It still wasn’t over, as Szczesny was again surprised by the power of a Laurienté strike from the edge of the box and palmed it into the path of Andrea Pinamonti’s header for 3-2.
Moise Kean was penalised for a push, but had also been denied by a desperate Alessio Cragno save, the goalkeeper’s gloves stung too by a Chiesa cross-shot.
Szczesny did keep the scoreline down with a fingertip save on Gregoire Defrel in stoppages that pushed the finish onto the underside of the bar, bouncing on the line and back out.
Incredibly, Juventus gifted the fourth goal to Sassuolo because Szczesny took a free kick from near the corner flag to rush the restart, Gatti did not realise he was off his line and under pressure from Matheus Henrique passed it calmly back into the empty net.
Sassuolo 4-2 Juventus
Laurienté 12 (S), Vina og 21 (J), Berardi 41 (S), Chiesa 78 (J), Pinamonti 82 (S), Gatti og 95 (S)
Player statistic
| Armand Lauriente |  |
12' | ||
| 21' |  |
Matías Viña | ||
| 36' |  |
Adrien Rabiot | ||
| Domenico Berardi (Assist: Matheus Henrique) |
|
41' |
| Daniel Boloca | |
52' | ||
| 55' | |
Danilo | ||
| Domenico Berardi | |
58' | ||
| Matías Viña | |
65' | ||
| 78' | |
Federico Chiesa (Assist: Nicolò Fagioli) | ||
| Andrea Pinamonti | |
82' | ||
| Andrea Pinamonti | |
85' | ||
| Federico Gatti | |
90+5' |
Match statistic
