Juventus are beaten in their first two league games for the first time in their history, as AS Roma impress at Stadio Olimpico.
A fantastic free kick on the hour mark from Miralem Pjanic, coupled with Edin Dzeko's maiden Roma goal, were enough to see off the ten men of Juve.
AS Roma started the game in a frantic fashion, penning the title holders into their own half for large periods. Inside the first minute, Rudi Garcia’s had appeals for a penalty waved away by Nicola Rizzoli after Alessandro Florenzi was seemingly tripped just inside the 18-yard box by Mario Mandzukic. Replays suggested that the referee, taking charge of his 300 league game, had incorrectly disregarded Roma’s appeals.
Roma dominant
The first chance of the game fell to former Juventus man Iago Flaque, who after winning the ball off a dallying Paul Pogba outside the penalty area, unleashed a venomous effort on goal which flew just over the crossbar.
The capital club’s dominance continued throughout the first half, and came agonisingly close to opening the scoring through Miralem Pjanic. After being teed up by Mohamed Salah on the right hand side of the penalty area, the 25-year-old curled the ball beautifully past a hapless Gianluigi Buffon and subsequently off the right post.
Juventus were incredibly poor in the first half. Without the injured Claudio Marchisio, and the recently sold Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo, La Vecchia Signora’s midfield proved to be extremely ineffective and were easily overrun by the Roma midfield three. Paul Pogba, in particular, was very disappointing during the opening 45 minutes.
Roma continued their dominance at the start of the second half, with Edin Dzeko coming close to giving his new club the lead. After latching onto a Florenzi’s miscued volleyed effort from the left hand side of the penalty area, the Bosnian forward drilled a low effort toward the near post. Gianluigi Buffon, however, reacted well to deflect the ball clear of danger with the sole of his foot.
AS Roma take a deserved lead
Moments later, AS Roma deservedly found the breakthrough. The ever-impressive Miralem Pjanic, curled a 20-yard free kick from the left of the penalty area over the Juventus wall and into the top left hand corner of the goal.
After going behind, Juventus finally began to show a semblance of attacking impetus. Paul Pogba almost restored the stalemate when he rose highest in the centre of the penalty area from a Paulo Dybala corner kick. The Frenchman’s subsequent header however, flew just wide of the left post.
Late drama
As Juventus began to grow into the game however, two silly challenges from Patrice Evra led to the veteran being shown a first and second yellow card inside the space of five minutes.
In the aftermath of the sending off, Edin Dzeko compounded Juventus’ misery by scoring his maiden goal for his new club. The Bosnian headed home a looping Iago Falque cross from the left of the penalty area to seemingly all but secure all three points.
Despite being two goals behind and down to ten men, La Vecchia Signora managed to find a route back into the game through Paulo Dybala. A quick counter attack led by substitute Roberto Pererya culminated in the Argentine bursting through the heart of the Roma defence before squaring the ball to Dybala, who coolly slotted the ball into the roof of the net.
Incredibly, Juventus came close to grabbing an unlikely equaliser. Wojciech Szczęsny was forced into a fantastic save in injury time by Leonardo Bonucci, after the libero had rose well inside the penalty area from Paulo Dybala corner kick.
Due to the manner of today's victory, AS Roma's faithful will be confident that their side can challenge for the Serie A title this season; while Juventus fans will undoubtedly be restless as their side currently sit at the foot of the league table.