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Sturaro haunts former side as Genoa hand Juventus 1st Serie A loss

MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP / Getty

It had to be him.

Moments after coming on in the second half of Sunday's Serie A clash in Genoa, former Juventus fringe midfielder Stefano Sturaro scored to end the Old Lady's chances of an unbeaten league season.

Sturaro, who was brought on in the 70th minute for his Genoa debut, fired a bouncing right-footed effort beyond a lunging Mattia Perin when he was inexplicably afforded heaps of space on the edge of the area.

Fellow second-half sub Goran Pandev made it 2-0 nine minutes later at a rapturous Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Christian Kouame streaked downfield on the counter sans pressure before finding the veteran Macedonian inside the 18-yard box.

It was a deserved result for a Genoa side who displayed far more attacking promise than the visitors.

Juventus, who made the trip southeast to the banks of the Ligurian Sea without leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, appeared flat, with Mario Mandzukic the only player to create more than one chance on the day.

Genoa avoided defeat to Juve for the second time this season after drawing in Turin earlier in the campaign, and with the victory, Cesare Prandelli's charges move to 11th in Italy on 33 points, all but securing Serie A safety.

Juve maintains their 18-point gap atop the Serie A standings with 10 matches to play. Napoli look to trim that margin when they host Udinese later Sunday.

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