SPAL stun Juventus to postpone Serie A title celebrations
Juventus' title party is on hold.
The Old Lady went into Saturday's tilt with SPAL needing a single point to clinch an eighth consecutive Serie A crown. But a heavily rotated team - a handful of youngsters either started the match or came off the bench - succumbed to a surprising 2-1 defeat.
25y, 114d - Juventus have a starting XI with an average age of 25 years and 114 days, the lowest in Serie A for the Bianconeri since October 1998 (vs Vicenza, 24 years and 340 days). Youth. #SPALJuve
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) April 13, 2019
Massimiliano Allegri's men can still secure the club's 35th Scudetto on Sunday if Napoli fail to beat lowly Chievo.
With an enormous lead atop the Serie A table - and one eye on Tuesday's Champions League encounter against Ajax - Allegri had the luxury of resting a number of regular starters; Cristiano Ronaldo, Miralem Pjanic, Leonardo Bonucci, Alex Sandro, and Wojciech Szczesny all watched on from afar.
Regardless, it looked as though Juve were well on their way to securing another domestic title when red-hot teenager Moise Kean redirected a wayward Joao Cancelo effort in the 30th minute to open the scoring. The 19-year-old has now scored in six successive matches for club and country.
But SPAL battled back in the second half, postponing the visitors' celebrations through goals from Kevin Bonifazi and Sergio Floccari.
"We had a lot of young players and they did well, but above all the second goal showed a lack of experience," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia after the game, via ESPN FC.
The unexpected triumph gave SPAL their first victory over Juventus since 1962.