Federico Tardito / Xinhua / imago images
For the 14th time: Juventus Turin celebrates the win against Atalanta Bergamasca
On Wednesday 4,300 spectators followed the final of the Coppa Italia in the »Città del Tricolore« stadium in Reggio nell’Emilia. Twenty percent of the places were occupied. One can only hope that next year, when the Coppa celebrates its centenary, the Chose can take place in a more dignified setting.
For a sporting comparison, the teams from Atalanta Bergamasca and the old suspects from Juventus Turin had come together. There are incorrigible people who believe that sport is about winning and nothing else. And that teams with a history decide their games for themselves in their sleep, with the magic of their club crest, through cryptic mysticism. If one followed this misconception, one-legged people would have run up on one side and on the other side hens who would dribble the ball around the one-legged men, which looked like giant slalom poles, and finally stow a dozen in the opposing traps.
The bare facts, however, were clear. The “Gli Orobici” (Bergamasken) won the Coppa Italia for the first time. That was 1963 and at the same time the only title in the club’s history. The last time they lost a Coppa final two years ago, the Lombards made their fifth attempt. Apart from 36 Italian championships, the Bianconeri have won all international titles including the World Cup (twice). The only thing missing in the showcases is the trophy from the Club World Cup. At the end of January they won the Supercoppa against Napoli.
Atalanta started at full speed. Juve coach Andrea Pirlo had banished Álvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala to the bench and instead put Dejan Kulusevski at the side of the sedate Cristiano Ronaldo (a shadow of himself), Swedish national player of Macedonian descent and just 21, who will soon be powerful the wings whirled. At first, however, Juve suffered from constant attacks by the Colombian Duván Zapata. First he took off Matthijs de Ligt and put the Argentinean defense chief José Palomino in the limelight, but Gianluigi Buffon held on to it with a glamorous foot defense within gunshot distance. Shortly afterwards, a twisting shot by Zapata hit the outside netting. Juve was nonexistent on the pitch. Play on goal. And exactly that, this game, was turned on its head after half an hour, when the ex-Schalke Weston McKennie dropped from the sanction point to the right on Kulusevski and he outwitted the goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini with a wonderful flick to make it 0-1. However, the start of the attack was preceded by a rough foul by Juan Cuadrado on Robin Gosens, and Cristiano had committed a deliberate handball in the penalty area, lying on the floor. Still, if you have a Kulusevski, you can give a damn about a Zlatan. Spain’s national coach Luis Enrique couldn’t have liked what he saw. Sweden is Spain’s first opponent at Eurocopa. By the way, Kulusevski was trained by Atalanta. Lamenting doesn’t help. Anyone who raises ravens shouldn’t be surprised if their eyes are hacked out. Last season, the wing racer (since it was at Parma) was named the best U-23 player at the Serie A League Awards.
Ten minutes later Hans Hateboer sent a death pass from the right after Remo Freuler had worked on the penalty area, from where Ruslan Malinowskyj punched Buffon to equalize against four chickens crawling in front of the shot and egg thief Buffon.
After the break, the Vecchia Signora began to play. The outstanding man on the pitch was now Federico Chiesa, on loan from Fiorentina. First he presented Kulusevski with a hundred percent, which Gollini parried with difficulty. Then he met after Ronaldo had a heel, Gollini was already beaten, only aluminum. And then this one-two with Kulusevski, minute 73, and Chiesa tunneled Gollini to the 1: 2 final score. It looked so easy, so lively, so monstrous that football pitch hearts jumped. Juventus won their 14th Coppa and Buffon their sixth (including one with Parma). Nevertheless, on Saturday the Bianconeri are dependent on the Bergamasken’s help against the young and wild AC Milan, otherwise the Champions League is goodbye. Good spokes!
