Rome, March 22 (SocialNews.XYZ) Juventus's hopes of winning the Serie A title took a major hit after a morale-sapping 1-0 home defeat to Benevento, as Arthur Melo's howler allowed the newly-promoted side to leave Allianz Stadium with all three points.
It was the second time that Juve dropped points against Filippo Inzaghi's side this season, after they played out a 1-1 draw earlier in the season, Xinhua news agency reported.
With Paulo Dybala, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Sandro injured, Federico Bernardeschi started at left-back, while Cristiano Ronaldo partnered Alvaro Morata upfront during the game on Sunday.
Juve dominated possession from the beginning but failed to break down a compact Benevento defense, with an effort from Ronaldo chalked off after the Portuguese had wandered offside in the build-up.
The away side took a shock lead in the 69th minute as Arthur's weak square-pass in his own half was intercepted by Adolfo Gaich who drilled home from the edge of the box.
Juve poured forward after that as Ronaldo earned several chances including a stunning bicycle-kick, but the Bianconeri was still unable to turn the game around.
Juve may see its hopes of a 10th consecutive Serie A title slip away, as it dropped to fourth place, 10 points behind leaders Inter Milan, whose home fixture against Sassuolo was postponed due to Covid-19 concerns.
AC Milan bounced back from its Europa League exit with an entertaining 3-2 away victory to Fiorentina.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave the Rossoneri an early lead in the ninth minute as the Swede sprung the offside trap to smash in a volley.
The Viola scored the leveler with Erick Pulgar's free-kick before veteran Franck Ribery turned the table in the 51st minute with a daisy-cutter.
Milan fought back minutes later as Simon Kjaer nodded Hakan Calhanoglu's corner for Brahim Diaz to turn in at the back post while Calhanoglu sealed the win through a rapid counterattack in the 72nd minute.
The Diavolo now sits second with 59 points, temporarily cutting the gap to Inter to six points.
In a head-to-head battle for fifth place, a pair of strikes from Dries Mertens helped Napoli sink Roma 2-0, while another Rome-based team Lazio edged Udinese 1-0 thanks to Adam Marusic's winner.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz