How would life be in Turin after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo? It would be different, but no one was expecting such a shocking defeat against Empoli. Juventus were lacklustre and never looked like playing as a cohesive unit and Juve know how such defeats against lower-ranked teams make the difference in the title race.

Other than some fierce Federico Chiesa strikes from range, the hosts did not threaten to score in the first half as Empoli edged into a surprise lead when captain Leonardo Mancuso swept the ball home at the far post in the 21st minute.

After the break, Massimiliano Allegri introduced Alvaro Morata, Dejan Kulusevski and new signing Manuel Locatelli from the bench but, even with all that firepower on the pitch, they created few openings of note.

Empoli saw out their first win back in the Italian top flight in relative comfort, leaving Juve on one point from their opening two matches of the season.

Juventus’ first official home match in front of more than just a couple hundred fans was marked with one of Bianconeri’s least effective games no matter who the coach may be in the last few years. Outside of a relatively solid opening 15 or 20 minutes, Juventus absolutely struggled against one of Serie A’s newly-promoted sides.

The midfield was a total mess.

The attack seemed to run out of ideas as the game went on.

Meanwhile, hoofing cross after cross into the opponent’s box never posed a threat.

Juve failed to win their first two league matches at the start of a season for just the third time in their last 52 top-flight campaigns.

“It’s a difficult moment,” Allegri told DAZN.

“We need to grow, we have to face our problems together.”

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“There have been too many players who have done things poorly who don’t usually drop to that standard.”

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