Juventus claimed a hard fought 2-1 victory over Atalanta on Wednesday night as they won the 14th Coppa Italia title in their history, a record-extending number.
It was indeed nice to see fans return back to stadiums in Italian football. The game was played in front of about 4500 spectators, at Mapei Stadium owned by Sassuolo.
It was significant in the sense that it was the first high-ranking competitive game in the country to have witnessed fans in over a year. Italy was one of the countries most heavily by the coronavirus pandemic and the presence of fans showed they had defeated the virus to a good extent.
Moving back to the match itself, Kulusevski broke the deadlock in the first half with a proper finish in the top corner but the lead did not last long as Ruslan Malinovskyi levelled the scoring just 10 minutes later.
In the 73rd minute, Federico Chiesa combined well with Kulusevski and fired home from close range what appeared to be the winner. For Chiesa, it capped off a good season with Juventus where he has impressed with 14 goals and 11 assists across all competitions.
For Andrea Pirlo, the pressure has been under fire following Juve’s slump in the Serie A and this title helped ease the pressure on him. It was also his first major trophy won as head coach of the club, following their Supercoppa Italiana triumph in January.
Speaking on his future at the club, Pirlo said after the game: “These victories do not cancel the ups and downs during the season, but in this first season as a manager I have learned a lot”.
“We had the desire to win and take home this trophy despite not having a positive season.”
“The club will decide if I stay but I would like to continue because I love to coach and I love this club that has given me so much satisfaction. My goal is to continue.”
