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Juventus suffer shock home defeat to Udinese on Serie A opening day

Cyril Thereau (C) of Udinese Calcio scores the opening goal during the Serie A match at Juventus
Image: Cyril Thereau (centre) of Udinese Calcio scores the winner at Juventus

Serie A champions Juventus, weakened by a series of departures in the close season, slumped to a shock 1-0 home defeat against Udinese in their opening game of the new season on Sunday.

Defeat ended Juve's 47-match unbeaten home league record  - a run stretching back to January 2013 - and ensured that the Turin side began their pursuit of a fifth straight title in miserable fashion.

Juve enjoyed the lion's share of the chances, with new boy Mario Mandzukic impressing, but were unable to respond when French striker Cyril Thereau finished from close range with 12 minutes remaining following an excellent cross from Panagiotis Kone.

"We are still under construction," Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri, who has lost Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal from last season, told Sky Sports Italia. "We must have patience to rebuild.

"It's to be expected when you have so many new players, it takes a while to refine the mechanism."

Fiorentina players celebrate a goal scored by Josip Ilicic
Image: Josip Ilicic: Scored from the spot in Fiorentina's win against AC Milan

At the Artemio Franchi, Fiorentina made sure AC Milan's poor form from last season continued as they inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Sinisa Mihajlovic's men in his first league game in charge.

Milan defender Rodrigo Ely was sent off after 37 minutes for a second bookable offence and Marcos Alonso sent the resulting free kick past Diego Lopez from 30 yards.

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Fiorentina, now managed by former Basel coach Paulo Sousa, doubled their lead on 56 minutes when Josip Ilicic converted a penalty after Alessio Romagnoli brought down the Slovenia midfielder.

Elsewhere, Sassuolo secured a 2-1 triumph at home to Napoli while Chievo defeated Empoli 3-1 away and Sampdoria trounced Serie A newcomers Carpi 5-2.

Torino overcame promoted Frosinone 2-1, Palermo secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Genoa and Inter Milan defeated Atalanta 1-0 with Stevan Jovetic netting in injury time.

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