Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri hit out at the state of the pitch at the Luigi Ferraris stadium as the Serie A leaders suffered a first league reverse of the season at Genoa.
Luca Antonini struck in the fourth minute of injury time Wednesday to claim all three points for Gian Piero Gasperini’s men, a 1-0 defeat for Juventus also allowing title challengers Roma to pull level on 22 points.
The surface at the Luigi Ferraris stadium, shared by Serie A sides Genoa and Sampdoria, has been damaged recently by heavy flooding which caused mayhem in the northern coastal city.
One of Juve’s sporting directors, former midfielder Pavel Nedved, was seen pitchside trying to replace a patch of grass that had come away from the pitch surface.
After the defeat, Allegri hit out on Sky Sport: “It’s not possible to play a top level game on a pitch like this. It was unplayable.”
He added, however: “You can’t concede in the last 30 seconds like this. We should have come away with the minimum of a draw. But we will take stock of this result and learn from it.”
Juve remain top on 22 points, with Roma second and AC Milan, who could only draw 1-1 away at Cagliari, moving up to third place thanks notably to defeats for Udinese and Sampdoria.