Juventus Turin’s impressive winning streak was broken against, of all places, FC Empoli, who were second to last in the table – albeit under significantly more difficult conditions.
Italy’s football record champions had to play around 75 minutes outnumbered after an early dismissal, and the score ended at 1-1 (0-0).
After winning seven competitive games in a row, Juve could now lose their lead in Serie A on Sunday. Coach Massimiliano Allegri’s team is only two points ahead of Inter Milan, the cup winners have to play away at AC Florence (Sunday, 8:45 p.m./DAZN).
Inter’s city rivals AC were unable to capitalize on Juve’s mistake. The Rossoneri couldn’t get past a 2-2 (1-1) draw against FC Bologna and are still seven points behind. On Milan’s side, the French national players Olivier Giroud (42′) and Theo Hernandez (74′) failed from the penalty spot, the Englishman Ruben Loftus-Cheek (45′, 83′) scored a brace – but former Bayern professional Joshua Zirkzee (29′). .) and Riccardo Orsolini with a penalty (90.+2) were successful for the guests.
In Turin, attacker Arkadiusz Milik (formerly Bayer Leverkusen) was shown red in the 18th minute for serious foul play, but the favorite still took the lead through Dusan Vlahovic (50th). Tommaso Baldanzi (70th) scored the equalizer for Empoli.
Last season, Turin did not qualify for the international competition after a ten-point deduction for accounting fraud and a subsequent penalty by UEFA. This season the Old Lady is consistently at the top; Allegri’s team suffered their last defeat in September 2023.