Twitter explodes as Juventus drop points in Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence

Juventus dropped yet more points in Serie A after a 1-1 away draw against Benevento. Andrea Pirlo rested Cristiano Ronaldo for this game but found his side lacking a collective cutting edge, as they were unable to create any kind of consistent pressure on the Benevento goal.

This was the first meeting between Andrea Pirlo and Filippo Inzaghi as managers, and for most of the game, it did seem like it was the latter who had the better of his former AC Milan teammate.

Benevento did show signs of things to come during the game, as they had the first real chance when Gianluca Lapadula headed over from a corner.

But Juventus took the lead soon after with a superb goal, that was set up by Federico Chiesa and taken superbly by Alvaro Morata. Chiesa played a long searching cross-field pass towards the left flank, and Morata took over really well from there. He dribbled past a man easily and then found the corner unerringly with his finish.

Paulo Dybala also had a great chance to make it 2-0 soon after, when he was set up by Morata. But the Argentine put his curler wide.

Despite Juventus having the better chances for the remainder of the first half, Benevento fashioned their own chances on the break and called Wojciech Szczesny into action.

They eventually found their goal, when Arthur’s poor clearance went straight to Gaetano Letizia, who found the bottom corner with an excellent volley.

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Juventus struggle to sustain attacking momentum without Ronaldo

In the second half as well, Juventus were not particularly monopolising the game territorially, even though they did have the majority of the ball.

Juventus were being troubled on the counter-attack though, as Benevento constantly found themselves in situations with the numerical advantage on the break, but couldn't make the most of those.

Dybala had a great chance to win the game right at the end but was denied by the Benevento 'keeper Lorenzo Montipo, after he was set up by Federico Bernardeschi assist.

Alvaro Morata was sent off after the final whistle, for making his displeasure clear to the referees, after the Spaniard cut a frustrated figure for being denied penalties in the game.

Juventus are now three points behind early Serie A leaders AC Milan, having played a game more than the Rossoneri, and there is plenty of thinking for Pirlo to do.

Here's how Twitter reacted to this match and performance from Juventus.