MILAN: The Serie A title race is far from over, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri warned after a first-half opener by Chinese Super League target Nikola Kalinic paved the way for Fiorentina’s shock 2-1 defeat of the champions.

Juve travelled to Florence looking for their fifth consecutive win since suffering a shock 3-1 loss at Genoa at the end of November.

But not for the first time this season, the Turin giants were exposed by a committed, battling performance by a host side.

Fiorentina dominated from the start and Juve were given an early warning when Matias Vecino, who had already seen an effort saved by Gianluigi Buffon, hit the left post in the 10th minute.

Kalinic, the subject of a reported big-money move to Tianjin Quanjian, paved the way for a memorable win with a 37th-minute opener as he latched onto Federico Bernardeschi’s through ball and slotted into the far bottom corner from a tight angle.

Kalinic’s fellow Croat Milan Badelj doubled Fiore’s lead in the 54th with a cross that found the net as the Juve defence were distracted by Federico Chiesa’s lunge at the ball.

Juve reduced the gap three minutes later when Sami Khedira floated in a cross from the left and it came off opponents Stefano Sturaro and Maximiliano Olivera.

Gonzalo Higuain was on hand to slot it home, the Argentine’s 13th in the league this season, to set up a tense final half hour.

Play was repeatedly interrupted by late tackles and the match finished with 38 fouls and eight yellow cards, but there were also chances for both sides.

Juve almost levelled in the 80th but Higuain’s header was stopped by the legs of Fiorentina goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu and Giorgi Chiellini’s attempt from the rebound was blocked before the ball was finally cleared.

Shortly afterwards, Paulo Dybala got into an excellent scoring position but fired wildly over while Fiorentina’s Josip Ilicic missed a golden chance on the break at the other end.

Juve’s fourth defeat in 19 games leaves the champions with just a one-point lead on Roma, although the five-time consecutive champions have a game in hand.

Napoli are four points off the pace in third with Lazio a point further adrift.

“This shows that the championship is far from finished,” said Allegri. “Roma and Napoli are just behind us, so it could go right to the end. This [defeat] should remind us all that whenever it comes to playing Juventus, opposition teams give it more than 100 percent.

“When you lose, you never feel good. We had an awful first half, while we did better in the second and also had chances to equalise. They were very aggressive, but we made it easier for them with our mistakes.”

Published in Dawn January 17th, 2017