At a sure level you began to marvel if Massimiliano Allegri would strip all the way in which all the way down to his underwear. The Juventus supervisor had already thrown off his jacket, after which just a few moments later, his tie. Now he was furiously undoing the buttons of his shirt and bellowing towards the gang.
Juventus have been moments away from successful the Coppa Italia. That they had led Atalanta from the fourth minute, when Dusan Vlahovic ran past Isak Hien and swept a right-footed end previous Marco Carnesecchi. The Serb put the ball within the internet once more within the 73rd, just for this objective to be disallowed for offside.
Vlahovic and his supervisor have been already feeling aggrieved over the non-award of a penalty when Hien bundled him over earlier within the half. A foul on Bremer in damage time appeared to tip Allegri over the sting. Despatched off for screaming within the face of the fourth official, he left the sideline demanding to know: “The place is Rocchi?” (Gianluca Rocchi is the refereeing designator who selects the crews for every sport.)
It’s not the primary time now we have watched Allegri disrobe in anger. He has hurled his jacket throughout his technical space extra usually than he has claimed this trophy, and that’s saying one thing. When the ultimate whistle finally went, confirming Juventus’s 1-0 win, Allegri re-emerged from the tunnel a record-breaker: the primary supervisor ever to win the Coppa Italia 5 instances.
Had there actually been discussions earlier than this sport casting Juventus as underdogs? Probably the most profitable coach within the historical past of the competitors main probably the most embellished workforce? Juventus have lifted the Coppa Italia 15 instances now; no person else has reached double figures.
But their latest kind was dismal, with no wins of their earlier six video games. The Bianconeri wanted a 91st-minute equaliser to keep away from defeat at house to relegated Salernitana on Sunday. Allegri’s reputation with supporters has been at a low ebb, and it’s broadly anticipated that the membership will transfer on from him on the finish of this marketing campaign.
Atalanta, in the meantime, have been driving the giddy highs of among the finest seasons in membership historical past. Though one place behind Juventus within the desk, they’re on target for Champions League qualification and conquered Liverpool on the way in which to their first European remaining. They warmed up for this sport with a 2-1 win over Roma wherein they need to have scored 4 or 5.
Gian Piero Gasperini pushed again in opposition to the suggestion that this was his greatest-ever Atalanta facet, reminding journalists of the group together with Papu Gómez, Josip Ilicic and Duván Zapata who scored 98 objectives in Serie A 4 seasons in the past. The Bergamo membership has not gained a serious trophy since their lone Coppa Italia triumph in 1963, however this was their third remaining beneath Gasperini in six years.
“We’re cussed,” mentioned the supervisor at his pre-game press convention. Disregarding superstition, he allowed himself to the touch the trophy on show. Just like the 23,000 Atalanta followers who snatched up tickets for Wednesday’s sport at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, he may need allowed himself to consider it was lastly their flip.
However Vlahovic, too, has been ready for his second. Regardless of scoring 71 Serie A objectives over the past 4 seasons and incomes a €70m switch to Juventus from Fiorentina in 2022, the striker had but to win a serious competitors in Italian soccer. Inconsistent ending, along with the expectations created by his price ticket, have made him a straightforward scapegoat for underwhelming leads to Turin.
He missed an opportunity in opposition to Salernitana nearly equivalent to the one he scored right here. A lesson realized in three days, or just one other reminder of soccer’s positive margins? For Vlahovic, the essential half was that he received there ultimately.
“I’ve to be sincere, it’s troublesome for me to talk proper now,” he instructed CBS Sports activities at full time. “It’s my first trophy, I’m so emotional on this second. However we did it. This was our goal initially of the season: Coppa Italia and qualification for the Champions League. We did it, and we’re so blissful.”
He was echoing the phrases Allegri, who mentioned earlier than kick-off: “I’ll repeat it until you’re bored of listening to it: our fundamental goal this season was to get again into the Champions League.” Watching the supervisor undress so angrily within the dying moments of this sport, it felt apparent that this was a launch of stress months and even years within the making.
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There are sections of Juventus’s fanbase who by no means warmed to Allegri even in his most profitable period, successful 5 consecutive league titles between 2014 and 2019. They downplayed his achievements as inevitable at a membership that had already gained the earlier three Scudetti beneath Antonio Conte and would declare one other beneath Maurizio Sarri after Allegri left.
This newest chapter has been much less wonderful. Allegri returned in 2021 because the perceived protected selection: a well-known face who would know tips on how to restore a successful ethos to a workforce that appeared to have misplaced it, falling to fourth beneath Andrea Pirlo.
However Juventus have been now not in the identical place that they had been by means of these swaggering 2010s. Choices taken at a directorial stage – together with the forcing out of Beppe Marotta and a €100m gamble on Cristiano Ronaldo – had affected the membership in methods not but absolutely obvious. The ten-point penalty imposed for false accounting final season was the end result of a collection of poor decisions.
After steering Juventus by means of the storm surrounding that judgment, which led your complete board to resign, Allegri would possibly really feel he’s owed somewhat extra consideration. He would possibly even be a sufferer of his personal success. An unexpectedly sensible begin to this season noticed Juventus sit prime of Serie A in late January: a tempo they might not maintain.
Maybe this cup win might but change the story. Allegri appeared to intention hostile phrases at Juventus’s soccer director, Cristiano Giuntoli, as he celebrated on Wednesday, although he later insisted that “nothing occurred”. Employed from final season’s champions, Napoli, to offer the membership with a brand new route, Giuntoli has publicly stayed tight-lipped in regards to the supervisor’s future.
It is going to be no shock if he does select to usher in his personal man, with a shared imaginative and prescient for the membership’s subsequent steps. There was an absence of readability in latest instances about what Juventus are aiming for: a fast return to the glory years or the creation of a extra sustainable mannequin selling the expertise they develop by means of their NextGen workforce, at present combating for promotion to Serie B (albeit with a prime scorer, Simone Guerra, who turns 35 this yr).
Nevertheless Juventus proceed, Allegri can rightly really feel he’s owed some gratitude for delivering one other trophy and restoring Champions League income streams. Maybe Giuntoli must thank Gasperini, too. It was Atalanta’s win over Roma that mathematically sealed Juventus’s qualification.
The Bergamo membership are near qualifying as nicely now, and nonetheless have an opportunity to finish this season with a trophy of their very own. All they need to do is beat a Bayer Leverkusen workforce that’s undefeated in 50 video games.
