Genoa 2-0 Juventus: De Rossi Sinks Mentor Spalletti

The pupil beat the teacher at the Luigi Ferraris. Juventus now face a weekend showdown with Napoli while Luciano Spalletti's future is openly debated. Daniele De Rossi had stood beside his old Roma mentor for a joint television interview before kick-off. By the 28th minute his Genoa side were 2–0 up, and that is how it stayed.

Spalletti was without Kenan Yıldız, Khéphren Thuram, Manuel Locatelli and Francisco Conceição, but nobody in Italy treated the injury list as an excuse. The verdict in the press was brutal. It was called a crisis and a humiliation, and the side was described as lethargic, short of physical bite and undone by severe individual errors.

The history books sharpen the point. This is Juventus's third Serie A defeat of the campaign. It is only the third time in the three-points-per-win era that they have lost three of their first nine league games, after 1995/96 and 2015/16.

Ehizibue's deflected drive sends Genoa ahead

The game began under a thick haze after the home supporters lit flare after flare, and Genoa emerged from it sharper. In the 12th minute Tommaso Baldanzi combined with Mikael Egill Ellertsson, charged to the byline and pulled the ball back across the box.

Kingsley Ehizibue arrived to hit it first time with his right foot from inside the area. A heavy deflection off Andrea Cambiaso sent the shot flying into the top corner beyond Guglielmo Vicario. Juventus were chasing the game before they had settled into it.

Baldanzi punishes Kalulu's error to double the lead

The second goal, after 28 minutes, was the purest expression of what De Rossi wanted. Morten Frendrup set the transition going, and Vitinha seized on an awkward miscontrol by Pierre Kalulu to burst into the box. When his first shot was blocked, Baldanzi reacted quickest and slid the rebound low past Vicario, the ball taking a slight touch off Gleison Bremer on the way in.

Inside half an hour, Baldanzi had a hand in both goals. Kalulu and Cambiaso were handed the lowest ratings in the Italian press afterwards, alongside Randal Kolo Muani, who was described as invisible.

Genoa managed two shots on target all night and scored with both. That efficiency is the whole story of the scoreline. The hosts did not need volume, only precision at the right moments.

Juventus dominate the ball as Koopmeiners hits the bar

On paper, the match belonged to Juventus for long spells. They had 63% of possession, 17 shots to Genoa's 14 and nine corners to six, yet only four of those attempts were on target.

Genoa's 37% told only half the story, because what they did without the ball mattered more. They harassed Juventus all over the pitch, and pundits credited De Rossi with outmanoeuvring his mentor through superior preparation and ferocious pressing.

Daniele Doveri set an unusually high threshold for fouls, letting aggressive contact go, and the flashpoints followed. Milutin Osmajic caught Bremer in the face with an elbow in the 45th minute without a foul being given. Bremer then escaped a booking for a heavy challenge on Vitinha in the 61st. The only yellow card of the night went to a Juventus player.

Juventus's closest call arrived in the 92nd minute. Teun Koopmeiners, making his 100th appearance for the club across all competitions, thundered a free-kick off the underside of the crossbar. The ball bounced down onto the goal line without fully crossing it. Justin Bijlow made further saves in stoppage time, then celebrated in front of the gradinata.

Spalletti apologises as Napoli showdown looms

At full time, the Juventus players walked towards the away end and were met with loud boos, jeers and fierce protests. Spalletti did not try to soften it: "First, we must apologise to the fans for the performance, as that is the most important thing."

Pundits are now asking whether he remains the right man for this squad, and whether his tenure is nearing a point of no return. The next test could hardly be more loaded: Napoli, his former club, at the weekend.

De Rossi, by contrast, refused to make it personal. "Abbiamo fatto una gara gagliarda, bella, sono contento per i ragazzi e per tutti quelli che hanno avuto fiducia in me anche nei momenti difficili," he said, praising a spirited performance and thanking everyone who had trusted him through difficult times. He added: "Questo è un gioco di squadra e non batto nessuno." In other words, football is a team game, and he beats nobody.

It was Genoa's first Serie A win over Juventus since May 6, 2022, and it ended a six-match winless run in the fixture. Leo Østigård was the only player on the pitch who had also featured in that previous victory.

The table frames the stakes. Juventus sit eighth on 14 points, six adrift of the top four. Genoa climb to 13th on 10 points on the back of a third straight home league win. For De Rossi, this is proof that his methods bite. For Spalletti, it opens a week in which the conversation is no longer about injuries.