Monza completed a stunning double over Juve on a day of shocks in Italy, a mature performance belying the fact that the club owned by Silvio Berlusconi are playing in their first ever Serie A season. Bought by former Italian prime minister Berlusconi in 2018, minnows Monza confirmed their meteoric rise from the lower leagues to move above Juve and into 11th place.

First-half strikes from Patrick Ciurria and Dany Mota were enough for a historic win at the Allianz Stadium for Monza, who also had Gianluca Caprari's brilliant early finish chalked off for offside. Mota's third goal of a season was emblematic of how comfortable they feel at this level, the Portuguese skipping past Wojciech Szczesny and sliding home after great work from Carlos Augusto.

September's 1-0 win over Juve was Monza's first ever in Serie A as well as being Raffaele Palladino's first match in charge. Sunday's victory came after the latest performance which showed why his team will almost certainly be in Italy's top flight come next season. Goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio stepped in with superb saves from strikes by Angel Di Maria, Arkadiusz Milik and Manuel Locatelli when Monza's defence had to hold off a Juventus siege in the second half.

But not even the return of Dusan Vlahovic after three months away could help Juve from falling to their fourth league defeat of the season. That, and the points penalty for illicit transfer activity inflicted earlier this month, have left Juve languishing in 13th place and 15 points away from the European places.

P. Ciurria

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