Missed penalty sees Juventus stumble vs. Sassuolo

Turin, Italy - March 21: Pierre Kalulu of Juventus Fc looks dejected during the Serie A match between Juventus FC and Us Sassuolo at Allianz Stadium on March 21, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by sportinfoto/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images) | DeFodi Images via Getty Images With Juventus chasing after fourth place as the Serie A season reaches the home stretch, they couldn’t afford too many slip-ups against teams that they should be beating. Unfortunately for the Bianconeri, their footing got a little less sure in the second half of Saturday night’s match against Sassuolo.

Juve dominated the first half and went ahead early after a lightning counterattack, but (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) couldn’t make that dominance pay with more goals. With the door open, Sassuolo took advantage of some awful defending early in the second half to even the score. Juve couldn’t conjure as many chances as they had in the first half, but were given a huge out in the last 10 minutes when Jay Idzes was assessed by VAR to have handled the ball in the box.

But Manuel Locatelli, whose penalty 10 months ago had confirmed Juve’s top-four status last season, bottled this attempt, condemning Juve to a 1-1 draw and leaving them at the mercy of relegation-threatened Pisa to keep pace with Como. Luicano Spalletti continued to play the strikerless system that had given him the success of the last game-and-a-half. Emil Holm was the only player still missing through injury.

Mattia Perin anchored the 4-1-4-1 setup, protected by Pierre Kalulu, Bremer, Lloyd Kelly, and Andrea Cambiaso. Locatelli sat in front of the defense, while Khéphren Thuram passed a late fitness test to join Weston McKennie in a more advanced midfield role, while Francisco Conceição and Kenan Yildiz played on the wings with Jérémie Boga as the false nine. Former Juve player and primavera manager Fabio Grosso was in charge of Sassuolo, and he had a bit of a selection pickle on his hands.