Juventus title hopes fade after defeat at Cagliari

CAGLIARI, Italy, Jan 17 : Juventus' Serie A title ambitions are all but over after they suffered a 1-0 defeat at Cagliari on Saturday, in a game where the visitors were unable to make their domination of possession count.

Juventus sit fifth in the standings on 39 points, 10 behind leaders Inter Milan who beat Udinese 1-0 on Saturday. Cagliari are 15th on 22 points, the win taking them eight points away from the relegation zone.

Cagliari failed to register a shot attempt in the opening half but scored a shock winner when Luca Mazzitelli scored with 25 minutes remaining to end Juve's six-match unbeaten league run.

"You tip your hat to your opponents, who brought home a victory that perhaps they didn't deserve, but sniffed out the opportunity and took it," Juventus manager Luciano Spalletti told Sky Sport.

"Maybe next time we can learn from that and sniff out our chance too."

The visitors dominated possession early on without creating any real danger until Cagliari keeper Elia Caprile saved Fabio Miretti's strike from just inside the area and the game remained goalless after a dour first half.

Juventus winger Kenan Yildiz did the hard work on the right, racing down the left wing dancing past three challenges to get himself into the box but his finish was well off target and minutes later Cagliari took a shock lead.

Gianluca Gaetano floated a free kick into the area and Mazzitelli met the ball first time to send a side-footed volley on the turn past Perin.

"A beautiful night that we'll carry with us," Mazzitelli told Sky.

"We faced one of the strongest teams, but we gave more than we had. It was a victory that came with plenty of suffering."

Caprile palmed away a scorching effort from Yildiz as Juventus desperately searched for an