Le Pagelle: Juventus vs. Sassuolo

TURIN, ITALY - MARCH 21: Manuel Locatelli of Juventus gestures during the Serie A match between Juventus FC and US Sassuolo Calcio at Allianz Stadium on March 21, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) | Juventus FC via Getty Images The onus is always on the chasing team when involved in a late-season race for table positioning. They need to keep winning games in order to put pressure on the team they’re pursuing, and any slip-ups can see the gap between the two teams widen at inopportune times.

Juventus are in that unenviable position right now, and they allowed a monkey wrench to be thrown into their race for the top four on Saturday, when they dropped points against Sassuolo, drawing 1-1 despite—stop me if you’ve heard this one before—allowing a single shot on target. Poor finishing, including an absolutely awful penalty in the dying minutes of the game, was again the culprit. While it has to be said that Sassuolo goalkeeper Arijanet Muric made a couple of impressive saves, especially in the second half, Juve’s superiority in the match—they had nearly two-thirds of the possession and outshot Sassuolo more than two to one—should’ve seen them get the goals they needed to pull away.

And then there was that penalty. The result gave themselves a much tougher road to overtake Como for Champions League qualification with eight games to go. How did everyone on the field fare?

Let’s take a closer look. MATTIA PERIN – 5. 5.