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Wednesday 1 Nov 2000, kick-off 4:00PM CET

The battle of Serie A's two black and white sides was end-to-end stuff from the opening moments. It was Carlo Ancelotti's lads that created the most opportunities in the early minutes of the game, as they fought for every ball and allowed the visitors few openings.

In fact Udinese looked quite happy to sit back and just pick off the runs of the Bianconeri as they occurred. Alex Del Piero looked to be the on-form forward for the home side, with Zinedine Zidane having an unusually quiet match, to the point that he was substituted at half-time to allow for super-sub Darko Kovacevic to get a run-out.

But the opening minutes flattered to deceive, as Roberto Sosa became the hero of the afternoon for the visitors, claiming a brace of goals that resulted in Juve's first League defeat of the season.

The first real chance of the game came courtesy of Alex Del Piero, whose mercurial play on the edge of the box saw the number 10 brought down. His cross caused all manner of problems for Udinese's back line, but Luigi Turci was equal to Michele Paramatti's header.

Juventus continued to dominate play, with Edgar Davids displaying all his combative qualities by making sure he was always first on the ball. In the 18th minute Giuliano Gianichedda, who kept a close eye on the Dutchman, was forced to bring him down and was the first player to get himself a caution. What looked to be a positive beginning for the home side was abruptly brought to a halt through a moment's inattention at the back by Italy Under-21 fixture Marco Zanchi. The 23-year-old was playing in an unfamiliar position after stepping in for Paolo Montero. Nevertheless he had been impeccable...until his miss-hit back pass was pounced upon by Roberto Sosa who - with the visitor's first real attack - gave his side the lead.

From then on, despite all their best efforts, Juve contrived to make mistake after mistake - Edwin Van der Sar almost allowed Luigi De Canio's lads to double their lead, but was on hand at the last moment to remedy the error. Despite some hard work by Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi, the Bianconeri had to resign themselves to going in at the break a goal behind.

In the second half Udinese made the most of the one-goal advantage by playing at pace on the break, causing numerous problems for the home side's back line. As the game went on Juve looked increasingly stretched in defence as they went in search of an equaliser.

In the 51st minute Carlo Ancelotti's side could have equalised the scores as Inzaghi went down in the box under the challenge of Andrea Sottil. The Udinese man looked to have pulled the Italy international's shirt, but referee Bolognino whistled for play to continue.

In the 53rd minute Udinese's tactic of waiting Juve out almost paid off, as Morten Bisgaard broke down the left with Juve stretched, crossed into the box only for Muzzi to fail to connect, while Stefano Fiore - unusually - scuffed his shot.

Juve had most of the ball, but failed to produce much in the way of goalscoring opportunities, while Udinese's waiting game saw them go close to doubling their lead on more than one occasion. In the 60th minute Sosa found himself alone in front of a Van der Sar who was having less than a convincing afternoon, but fortunately the Argentine's weak shot was this time well taken by the Holland keeper.

Then, minutes later the inevitable - given the pattern of the game - happened, as Juve fell two goals behind after a textbook break saw substitute Martin Jorgensen lay on a ball for Sosa, who found himself once again one-on-one with Juve's big Dutch keeper and this time duly slotted the ball home.

After that it was all uphill for the Bianconeri, and despite the best efforts of Del Piero, who managed to pull his side back into the game with a 78th-minute penalty. That set up a grandstand finish, although Juventus failed to get the goal that would have ensured a point from the encounter.

In truth things could have been worse. With two minutes of injury time on the clock, Jorgensen fired in a thunderous drive that called for an exceptional reaction save from Van der Sar who just managed to push the ball onto the crossbar.

With two consecutive defeats at the Delle Alpi, these are dark times for the Bianconeri.

GOALS: 23’ and 68’ Sosa, 77’ Del Piero (pen.)
CAUTIONS: 18’ Giannichedda, 47’ Inzaghi, 51’ Sottil, 59’ Gargo, 76’ Alberto, 77’ Sosa, 89’ Diaz, 89’ Del Piero

JUVENTUS (3-4-1-2): Van der Sar; Ferrara, Zanchi, Iuliano (46’ Bachini); Paramatti, Davids (73’ Tacchinardi), O’Neill, Pessotto; Zidane (46’ Kovacevic); Inzaghi, Del Piero. (Rampulla, Tudor, Bachini, Tacchinardi, Conte, Trezeguet, Kovacevic). Manager. Ancelotti.

UDINESE (3-5-2): Turci; Gargo (59’ Zamboni), Sottil, Bertotto; Bisgaard, Fiore, Giannichedda, Alberto (83’ Helguera), Diaz; Sosa, Muzzi (57’ Jorgensen). (De Sanctis, Esposito, Jorgensen, Zamboni, Helguera, Pizzarro, Margiotta). Manager. De Canio

Referee: Bolognino
Spectators: 36,941