Spirited Spal frustrate Juve and shake up the bottom – and top – of Serie A

Leonardo Semplici could have encouraged his players not to worry before their game against Juventus. Nobody expected Spal to get a result against opponents 15 places and 50 points ahead of them. As such, the manager might have told them to stay loose, to enjoy themselves, to go out and take a swing knowing that they had nothing to lose.

Instead he told them the truth. “We have lots to lose,” said Semplici on the eve of Saturday’s game. “We’re running out of games and we need to try to pick up points. We are facing the best team in Italy, and one of the strongest in Europe, but we still need to try to take a positive result.”

And so they did. Before a raucous crowd at the Stadio Paolo Mazza, Spal battled their way to a 0-0 draw with the reigning champions. Semplici’s team could not breach a Juventus defence that is yet to give up a league goal in 2018, but nor did they often risk conceding against Serie A’s most prolific attack.

It was a defiant performance, embodied the ferocious pressing by Pasquale Schiattarella in front of the defence. As he – a player who was once considered more of a winger than a midfield destroyer – took the battle to Miralem Pjanic and company, Jasmin Kurtic and Alberto Grassi worked tirelessly on either side to block up the passing lanes.

With Spal’s back three swamping Gonzalo Higuaín and Paulo Dybala, Juventus were limited mostly to attacking down the flanks, where Douglas Costa found space but never quite the perfect delivery into a crowded penalty area. So frustrated did the Bianconeri become that Giorgio Chiellini was soon sprinting forward from defence to offer an unexpected angle of attack. That was before he limped off, clutching a hamstring.

When the board went up showing five minutes of added time at the end, the home crowd braced itself for the inevitable: another last-gasp Juventus winner just like the one they stole at Lazio at the start of the month. But this time it never arrived. The final whistle went and the celebrations began.

Semplici might have convinced his players that this was a game to take points from, but that did not mean it was just any old fixture. For a club that has been out of Serie A for 50 years, to defy the winners of this league’s last six editions had to mean something more.

Spal’s co-owner, Simone Colombarini, was said by his wife to still be doing somersaults almost an hour after the game had ended. Thirty-four-year-old Eros Schiavon, who first played for the club back when they were in the fourth tier, rode through the mixed zone - where reporters wait to speak to players after the game – guffawing atop a broken bicycle.

This was a result with huge implications at the top of the table. Juventus had blown an opportunity to temporarily move seven points clear in first place. Instead, Napoli’s win over Genoa one day later closed the gap back down to just two. With nine games to go, the Scudetto race is alive and kicking.

But before we get to that, it is right to focus on Spal and their achievement. Hard questions were being asked of Semplici as recently as February, with his team seemingly drifting towards an inevitable relegation. After a 2-0 defeat by Cagliari, several newspapers reported that the forthcoming home game against Milan represented his final chance to save his job. Spal lost, 4-0.

But Colombarini and his father Francesco, who own the club together, persisted. After taking over in 2013, they had hired Semplici one year later. He is the man who steered Spal to consecutive promotions: from the third tier all the way up to the first. They would not abandon him lightly.

Semplici has since begun to reward their faith, as well as their investment into the squad in the most recent transfer window. This was Spal’s fourth consecutive positive result, following wins over Crotone and Bologna, and a draw at Sassuolo. There were two January signings – Kurtic plus the defender Thiago Cionek – in the starting XI against Juventus, and a further two – Everton Luiz and Lorenco Simic – who entered from the bench.

Spal’s situation remains precarious – they are just one point above the relegation zone and all three teams behind them have a game in hand. But they have given themselves a fighting chance. A result like this one, furthermore, can only lend additional confidence for the final stretch.

For Juventus, this was a blow but hardly a fatal one. Allegri insisted this setback would help his team to stay focused down the stretch. He might draw parallels with the 2015-16 campaign, when the Bianconeri started slowly before winning 15 consecutive games to overtake Napoli. That run ended with a surprising 0-0 draw against Bologna, before Juventus rattled off another 10 straight victories to lift the Scudetto.

Napoli, though, will be eager to write a different ending this time around, and demonstrated their own resilience by winning despite a less-than-sparkling performance against Genoa. With a trip to Turin still to come, their destiny is back in their own hands. If they can match the conviction that Spal showed on Saturday, this title race might yet come down to a photo finish.

Spal 0-0 Juventus, Udinese 1-2 Sassuolo, Napoli 1-0 Genoa, Lazio 1-1 Bologna, Verona 0-5 Atalanta, Torino 1-2 Fiorentina, Crotone 0-2 Roma, Benevento 1-2 Cagliari, Milan 3-2 Chievo, Sampdoria 0-5 Internazionale

Talking points

• Four goals in one game for Mauro Icardi, who had previously scored three since the start of December. Does Inter’s 5-0 win over Sampdoria represent a brilliant renewal for Luciano Spalletti’s team, or simply the continuation of an inexplicable late-season collapse from their opponents? Samp were already coming off a 4-1 hiding by Crotone, and were dismal here, but Rafinha put in another encouraging performance in the No 10 role for Inter and when Icardi is in this mood he can be unplayable. His first goal on the day was his 100th in Serie A – at just 25 years old – and his second a backheel that bears repeat viewing.

• André Silva has a little way to go to match those numbers, but after waiting seven months for his first Serie A strike he now has two in as many games. His 82nd-minute tap-in sealed a come-from-behind win over Chievo and edged Milan a point closer to the top four. The Rossoneri have won five straight in Serie A but it is the run of games after the international break that will define their season. They face Juventus, Inter, Sassuolo and Napoli in 16 days.

• Patrick Cutrone’s belated celebration of his equaliser in that game – initially ruled offside, but awarded after a VAR review - made for entertaining viewing, yet may not have gone down so well with Lazio supporters who believe that the system is playing purely to the benefit of their rivals. Several hundred gathered for a protest outside the Italian Football Federation’s headquarters in Rome on Sunday, with one banner demanding “respect or war”. Later that evening, the Biancocelesti were denied a penalty in their 1-1 draw with Bologna when Godfred Donsah brought down Felipe Anderson in the box. VAR was not consulted, as referee Antonio Damato had seen the incident clearly, making this a subjective decision and thereby not reviewable.

• Inter weren’t the only team to win 5-0 on Sunday. Josip Ilicic hit a brilliant hat-trick as Atalanta thrashed Verona and continued their Europa League push.