Coming into Sunday’s game, Juventus had seven players unavailable due to injury when they faced Palermo, which only added to the immense pressure Juve manager Claudio Ranieri already was in after three consecutive draws.
In the starting XI, Pavel Nedved made way for Sebastian Giovinco, who took on the role of trequartista behind Del Piero and Amauri.
Palermo had three wins in four games and were flying high under new manager Ballardini. The Rosaneri missed three players ahead of the game, but played up to their potential, handing Juventus their first defeat of the season.
The game started with a slow tempo at Turin's Stadio Olimpico. Both sides created chances, but it was the visiting side that took charge in the first half.
The first goal came in the 23rd minute as a Fabio Liverani free kick found Edison Cavani’s volley bringing out a one-hand save from Gianluigi Buffon. However, Fabrizio Miccoli was first to get to the rebound and tapped in the shot beside a prone Buffon. Soon after his goal, the former Juventus hit-man was substituted for Migliaccio due to a calf injury.
Not long after Ballardini’s first substitution his Juventus counterpart was forced to do the same thing as Olof Mellberg had to go off with an upper thigh problem, with Hasan Salihamidzic coming on and the Juventus tactician changing to a 4-4-2 system, pushed Giovinco out to the left flank.
Juventus started to grow into the game late into the first half. Amauri was hacked down right outside the Palermo box. Alessandro Del Piero stepped forward and curled in one of his trademarks free kicks to level the score at one.
The Bianconeri happiness was cut short as Momo Sissoko earned his second booking within a matter of five minutes, leaving his teammates fighting with only ten men for the remainder of the game.
Juventus largely dominated the second half, but Palermo continued to look dangerous every time they pushed forward.
Midway into the second half Ranieri decided to sacrifice Cristian Poulsen, who until then had not done much wrong, in favor of Mauro Camoranesi in an attempt to change the game. Mark Bresciano had made way for Levan Mchedlildze on the opposite side five minutes earlier.
With ten minutes remaining of the game, Ranieri surprisingly decided to bring Nedved on to replace Giovinco, who until then along with Del Piero and De Ceglie, had been the best Bianconeri player on the field.
Palermo’s winner came almost directly after Ranieri’s last substitution. With a through ball from Simplicio, the 19-year old Mchedlildze scored his first ever Serie A goal.
Del Piero then curled another free kick over in the stoppages while Palermo had a golden opportunity to add another goal to the score-sheet through Simplicio, but had to settle for a 2-1 win.
The Rosaneri go back to Sicily with three well-deserved points as Serie A takes a break for international duty.
Palermo sails up to fourth place whereas Juventus free-fall down to 11th, sending the club into crisis.
It’s safe to say that Ranieri can now prepare himself for an interesting press conference as he is going to be under quite a bit of scrutiny following Juve’s dismal performances.
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