Juventus’ Primavera fell to only their second reverse of the season, losing 4-1 away to Sampdoria on Saturday afternoon.
The Bianconeri started brightly and got their noses in front as early as the seventh minute from an unlikely source: centre-back Yoann Severin converting from within the box.
The visitors had their tails up and searched relentlessly for a second goal, Andrea Favilli and Luca Clemenza twice going close, but they were unable to add to their slender lead before the break.
The second half took a very different direction to the first and Sampdoria did not take more than two minutes to draw level through Andres Ponce.
The Venezuela Under 20 captain doubled his personal tally only 11 minutes later with a powerful strike into Juve keeper Leonardo Vitali’s top corner. And matters worsened for Fabio Grosso’s men when Giacomo Vrioni capped off a fine run with his side’s third of the afternoon.
The Bianconeri regrouped and almost reduced the deficit, Favilli scraping the post with an 84th minute header. But their regular bursts forward left them exposed to the counter-attack and the hosts duly punished them with a fourth goal, as Vrioni completed his brace late on.
Speaking at the final whistle, Grosso said: "We'll forget this result quickly and just focus on the positive things we did in the first half. Football can be an unforgiving sport and you simply can’t play like we did in the second period.
“Credit to Sampdoria for the way they handled themselves. Today we should have done better, but we’ll pick ourselves up and turn our attentions immediately to the next match.”
Juventus are back in action next Saturday, when they will look to return to winning ways against Sassuolo in Vinovo.