The hosts were well off the pace in the first half and fell behind to a fine team goal from Sassuolo, two minutes before the break, with Davide Frattesi finishing well when put through on goal.

Juventus stepped it up in the second half with Juan Cuadrado having a powerful effort cleared off the line while Federico Chiesa also missed with a header.

The equaliser finally came when Weston McKennie powered a header into the net in the 76th minute, much to the relief of everyone in the Juventus Stadium.

Juventus threw everything at Sassuolo to find a winner, but they were caught on the break in the 95th minute, as Lopez raced clear before lofting a fine finish into the net to secure victory for his team.

The surprise defeat dropped Juventus to seventh in the standings with 15 points.

They trail leaders AC Milan by 13 points after 10 games.

Sassuolo climbed to ninth, a point adrift of Juve,

Allegri told reporters: “There are games that if you don’t win you can’t afford to lose.

“A draw would have meant we extended the unbeaten run and we would not have lost twice at home (this season) already.

“We have to be realistic. We have to play in another way and be more careful, especially if you meet teams like Sassuolo.”

Allegri also challenged his side to get among the goals against Sassuolo, with Juventus having not scored more than once in a match in their previous five encounters.

But even with forwards Alvaro Morata, Chiesa and Paulo Dybala all starting, they struggled to create many clear cut chances.

Dybala did almost break the deadlock with a fizzing strike from distance that clipped the outside of the post in the first half, before Frattesi made his moment count.

Visiting goalkeeper Andrea Consigli was keeping Juve at bay, as were several last-ditch defensive interventions before McKennie’s first of the season levelled things up on the end of a pinpoint Dybala cross.

Juventus pressed for that winner but, with everyone committed down the other end of the pitch, they were left short at the back as Sassuolo picked up their first-ever win in the Juventus Stadium thanks to Lopez’s calm finish under pressure.

Source: Reuters/NAN

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With this result, the defending champions missed the chance to go nine points clear at the top of Serie A.

Having taken two points from their last three games, Juventus are on 77 points, seven ahead of Atalanta, who thumped Brescia 6-2 on Tuesday, with five matches remaining.

Defender Danilo opened the scoring for Juventus in the sixth minute.

A corner kick found him unmarked on the edge of the box, and he drilled a powerful shot through a cluster of bodies into the net.

Gonzalo Higuain made it two six minutes later, latching on to a superb ball from Miralem Pjanic.

But a shot into the top corner by Filip Djuricic in the 29th minute signalled the start of a spirited fightback by the home side.

They levelled six minutes into the second half when Domenico Berardi curled a beautiful free-kick in at the near post.

Sassuolo went ahead three minutes later as Francesco Caputo stole in at the far post to steer in a wayward Berardi shot.

Ronaldo’s best effort was an attempted lob in the first half that landed just wide, but he was well-shackled by the Sassuolo defence.

Instead it fell to left-back Alex Sandro to produce a rare goal, meeting a 64th minute corner kick with a bullet header to level the scores.

Chasing their ninth league title in a row, Juventus poured the pressure on but could not force a winner.

Instead, Juventus goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, had to make a superb save to keep one point.

He had to keep out a dipping shot from Mehdi Bourabia in stoppage time as they hung on for a draw that left coach Maurizio Sarri frustrated.

“We struggle to maintain physical and mental continuity. It is difficult to understand why we have very good moments and others of passivity,” Sarri said.

“It is difficult to understand, even allowing for the fact that we are meeting teams who are in extraordinary form. We have the feeling of ups and downs during the game,” he added.

Source: Reuters/NAN

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