After what has been a difficult season, Juventus did at least give its fans something to cheer about with a 2-1 victory over Atalanta in the Coppa Italia final.
Federico Chiesa scored a 73rd-minute winner for Juventus after Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskiy had canceled out Dejan Kulusevski’s opener.
The victory means Cristiano Ronaldo has now won every major trophy in England, Spain and Italy — the first player in history to achieve that feat.
Usually so dominant in domestic competitions, there has been little for Juventus to shout about this season and the club remains on the brink of missing out on next season’s Champions League.
The Old Lady had won nine consecutive Serie A titles, before its run was ended by Inter Milan this season. Head coach Andrea Pirlo has been widely criticized for Juventus’ form this season, which also included a shock elimination to Porto in the Champions League round of 16.
This Coppa Italia win is Pirlo’s first major trophy as Juventus manager, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to convince the board that he’s the coach to take the club forward.
Going into the final round of Serie A fixtures, Juventus needs to beat Bologna and hope that either AC Milan or Napoli drops points in order to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Wednesday’s victory also marked what looks to be club legend Gianluigi Buffon’s last game for Juventus. The 43-year-old has made more than 500 appearances and won 15 major trophies over two spells with the club.
Such is Buffon’s remarkable longevity, the goalkeeper — widely considered one of the greatest of all time — won his first Coppa Italia in 1999 playing alongside Enrico Chiesa for Parma, and 22 years later, Buffon has won his sixth Coppa Italia playing alongside Enrico’s son, Federico.
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