Serie A wrap: Juventus crash to Sampdoria, Inter slump continues

Juventus’ title defence suffered a blow as they succumbed to a surprise 2-1 defeat at the hands of lowly Sampdoria in Turin on Sunday.

Sebastian Giovinco opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half, after Claudio Marchisio had been brought down by Gaetano Berardi, who later saw red for a second bookable offence.

However, Mauro Icardi netted a second-half brace to secure a memorable win for Riccardo Garrone’s side that saw the Turn outfit lose their first game of 2013.

Juventus entered their first Serie A match after the winter break looking to extend a seven-game winning streak and they were well on their way in the first half.

Giovinco tucked away a penalty in the 24th minute to give Juve a perfect start and things got worse for Sampdoria when Berardi was given his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card.

But against the odds, Sampdoria produced a stirring second-half comeback.

They initially drew level when Argentine forward Icardi converted Nenad Krsticic’s assist nine minutes into the second half.

Icardi got his second after 69 minutes and then played out time to stun the 38,000-strong crowd at the Juventus Stadium as they hung on for a win that lifted them to 15th on the table.

Third-placed Fiorentina also lost at home, with mid-table Pescara notching a 2-0 win at Stadio Artemio Franchi.

The win was the definition of a smash-and-grab triumph, with Pescara having just three shots on target compared to their opponent’s tally of 15.

But goals from Jonathas and Mervan Celik in the second half were enough to give the visitors all three points.

The losses kept coming for the title challengers as fourth-placed Inter Milan were thrashed 3-0 at Udinese.

Veteran striker Antonio Di Natale bagged a second-half brace for the winners while Colombian Luis Muriel was also on the scoresheet as a 10-man Inter slumped to their fifth successive defeat on the road.

Other results saw goals from Bojan and Giampaolo Pazzini fire AC Milan to a 2-1 home success against lowly Siena while Parma beat Palermo by the same scoreline thanks to Amauri’s injury-time winner.

A Marco Borriello double helped Genoa to a 2-0 triumph over Bologna and Chieva edged Atalanta 1-0.

More to follow