Juventus fall to Udinese and drop their first Serie A season opener in Turin

Juventus' Roberto Pereyra, right, and Udinese's Manuel Iturra fight for the ball during their Serie A match at Juventus Stadium in Turin August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito

Defending champions Juventus suffered a surprise 1-0 home defeat to Udinese in their Serie A opener.

Cyril Thereau scored the only goal of the game with what was Udinese’s first shot on target in the 78th minute, and Juve could not respond.

It was Juve’s first home league loss since January 2013 and only the sixth time in 48 games since that defeat that they have dropped points in front of their own fans.

The result at the Juventus Stadium failed to reflect the home side’s dominance, though.

Last season’s Uefa Champions League finalists controlled possession and had five shots on goal but could not find a way past Udinese goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis.

Udinese, under new coach Stefano Colantuono, failed to test Juve stopper Gianluigi Buffon until Thereau beat the Italian veteran when the Frenchman was left unmarked to tap in Panagiotis Kone’s cross.

New Juve signing Mario Mandzukic was handed his Serie A debut, playing alongside Kingsley Coman in attack from the start.

Juve had the first chance, in the 20th minute, Roberto Pereyra’s left-footed attempt from inside the area kept out by Karnezis.

The home side continued to press forward and Mandzukic headed Stephan Lichsteiner’s dangerous cross just over the bar.

In the 65th minute, Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri brought in another of his new signings, Paulo Dybala, to replace Coman up front.

However, it was Manduzkic that had the best chance four minutes later but the Croatia forward’s close-range header from Patrice Evra’s cross went wide.

Then, against the run of play, Juve fell behind when the unmarked Thereau punished the hosts, and Udinese held on for the final 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta confirmed the club is on the verge of signing Colombia winger Juan Cuadrado on loan from Chelsea, and said it could be made official tomorrow.

Cuadrado moved to Chelsea from Fiorentina on the final day of the Premier League transfer window, in February, but had only four starts in the 2014/15 league season.

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