14 October 2017
Juventus’ home Serie A winning streak came to an end as two goals in the second half from Lazio’s Ciro Immobile condemned the Bianconeri to a 2-1 home defeat, despite Douglas Costa’s first half goal.
A slow start to the opening period came alive when Douglas Costa scored his first goal for the club in the 25th minute. Some neat work down Juve’s left hand side saw Sami Khedira hit a first-time shot from Kwadwo Asamoah’s low ball. Lazio’s Thomas Strakosha got down well to save, but he could do nothing about the incisive Douglas Costa who followed up superbly to give the Bianconeri a 1-0 lead.
The lively Khedira then went close from distance as he gathered the ball from midfield before unleashing a fierce drive at goal that the Lazio ‘keeper got down well to save. However, Strakosha nearly gifted the Bianconeri a second goal when his clearance from a back pass hit Gonzalo Higuain. Unluckily for Pipita, the ball rebounded onto the crossbar and way to safety.
In the second half, Lazio came out of the blocks the quickest and were rewarded with an equalising goal. Luis Alberto slipped in Ciro Immobile and the former Juventus youth product made no mistake as he slotted past Gianluigi Buffon.
Things went from bad to worse just minutes later as Buffon brought down Immobile and a penalty was awarded to the visitors with a subsequent booking for the Juve number one. Immobile stayed composed from the spot and sent Buffon the wrong way to grab his second goal of the match and put Lazio in-front.
The Bianconeri tried to fight back, and at the very end of the match they looked to have been given life-line as they were awarded a penalty, following a consultation with VAR after a challenge on Federico Bernardeschi. Paulo Dybala stepped up but Strakosha was able to dive the right way and denied La Joya with the last kick off the game.
Juve will now attempt to get back on track when they host Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Wednesday night at Allianz Stadium.
