Luciano Spalletti tipped his hat to Cagliari after they shocked Juventus, but singled out one glaring mistake.
Juventus Wasteful In 1-0 Defeat By Cagliari
Despite the Bianconeri coming into the showdown with six wins in their last seven Serie A matches, they were undone by a well-worked set-piece routine, perhaps spelling the end of their unlikely Scudetto bid.
Luca Mazzitelli’s superb volley proved the difference on Saturday night, leaving Juve 10 points behind Inter Milan.
The referee had awarded Spalletti’s visitors a penalty after 15 minutes when Fabio Miretti went to ground. However, a VAR review correctly overturned the decision, Miretti having caught his opponent first.
Cagliari then took the lead against the run of play, Gianluca Gaetano’s free-kick finding Mazzitelli, who had escaped Pierre Kalulu’s clutches to volley smartly into the bottom corner from 15 yards.
The result left Juve fourth, ahead of Roma on goal difference but four points adrift of third-placed Napoli.
Post-match, Spalletti admitted his players’ inability to stick to their roles led to the upset.
“Cagliari deserved it, because they fought for every ball, closed up and tried to go on the counter,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “We were unable to be determined enough in preparing the situations.
“There are games that go like this. We move on.
“The substitutes got swept up in the frantic nature of the game. [Edon] Zhegrova and [Francisco] Conceicao dropped back to get the ball in midfield, so got too far away from the ‘hot’ areas of the pitch.
“Kalulu and [Lloyd] Kelly started pushing up the flanks, but no, they are defenders and needed to be defending.
“We can complain about that, players need to stay in their roles, but in general we played our game, suffocated every attempt at a counter-attack. It was destined to go like this; there’s no point crying over spilt milk.”
Mazzitelli lasers the ball into the bottom-right corner to put the hosts ahead! 🤯#CagliariJuve 1-0 pic.twitter.com/9qzc1PveqG
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) January 17, 2026
New Jean-Philippe Mateta Approach Planned
Despite Juventus carving out several promising opportunities at the Stadio Unipol Domus, they were unable to capitalise. A solution appears to be on its way, though.
According to reports on Saturday night, Juventus are drawing up a new approach for Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The proposed deal for the Crystal Palace striker is an initial loan with a conditional buy clause.
Mateta, who has scored eight goals in 22 Premier League appearances this season, is valued in the region of €30-€35m. Palace could demand more, but regardless, the Old Lady are pushing ahead with negotiations.
The loan would be worth around €2m, while the obligation to buy for €28m depends on the Italian side qualifying for the Europa League. Per Gianluca Di Marzio, an agreement on personal terms is already in place.
