The Old Lady avoided enduring a first trophyless season in a decade by narrowly getting the better of Atalanta at Citta del Tricolore.
Giorgio Chiellini admits “for the first time in 10 years” Juventus were not the favorites going into the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday.
Federico Chiesa scored his 13th goal of the season after Ruslan Malinovskiy had canceled out Dejan Kulusevski’s opener, and it proved to be the winning goal as Juventus beat Atalanta 2-1.
The Bianconeri’s victory at Citta del Tricolore saw them clinch their 14th Coppa Italia title, meaning they now have at least five more Italian Cups than any other side. It also proved to be a historic win for their star Cristiano Ronaldo as he became the first player ever to win all three domestic trophies in three of Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Given Juve’s reputation, they are expected to come out on top on such occasions, but not even the most optimistic of fans had completely ruled out an upset considering the Old Lady’s stumbles this season.
“This Coppa Italia means a lot to us because I was talking to Gigi Buffon at lunch today and for the first time in 10 years Juventus went into an Italian Final and were not the favorites. It felt a bit strange,” the veteran center-back told Rai Sport post-match.
Chiellini added on the match: “We expected them to start strong, but not that strong.
“The sensation we had at half-time was that Atalanta had used up a lot of energy and we could cause them problems with a higher press. We were more organized, they fell away over time and we grew stronger.
“The idea was to press them a bit higher, that way they can’t have that build-up of pressure when they play out from the back. It’s inevitable they’d lose some intensity after that first half played at a frantic tempo.”
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