Juventus suffer 1-0 defeat at Sassuolo

:Juventus fell to a 1-0 loss at Sassuolo after a second-half goal by substitute Gregoire Defrel earned the points in Serie A on Sunday, condemning Massimiliano Allegri's side to successive league defeats for the first time this season.

Juve, seventh in the standings on 44 points, missed the chance to close the gap to the top six and remain four points behind Atalanta, who visit ninth-placed Fiorentina on Monday.

For Juventus, who took a small step towards the last four of the Europa League with a 1-0 home victory over Sporting in the first leg of their quarter-final on Thursday, this was their first consecutive defeat in Serie A since October 2021.

Juve lost 2-1 at Lazio in their last league outing.

"We had to do better against an excellent Sassuolo. I think the defeat was well deserved," Allegri told a news conference.

"We didn't move very much, we didn't attack deep... Now we need to roll up our sleeves, prepare for Thursday's game against Sporting ... and improve."

Juventus, for whom winning the Europa League remains their most likely route into next season's Champions League, on Thursday face Sporting in Lisbon in their Europa league return leg before hosting runaway Serie A leaders Napoli next Sunday.

After a cautious start on Sunday, the match sprung to life when Sassuolo midfielder Maxime Lopez tested Juventus goalkeeper Mattia Perin with a header in the 55th minute.

A minute later Perin pulled off another brilliant save to keep out Defrel's towering header following a corner.

However, the halftime substitute eventually broke the deadlock in the 64th minute, firing inside the right post on the rebound following a corner.

Juve came close to finding an equaliser nine minutes later through Adrien Rabiot who leapt inside the