Juventus beat Atalanta 2-1 to win Italian Cup on Wednesday as Italian fans returned to the stadium for the first time in over a year.
Goals from Dejan Kulusevski after half an hour and Federico Chiesa with 15 minutes to go gave Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus their second trophy of the season after the Italian Super Cup.
Ruslan Malinovskyi had pulled a goal back for the Bergamo side who were denied their first major trophy since 1963.
Speaking about their victory, Pirlo, who turned 42 on Wednesday, stated;
It was a great match, between two beautiful teams who fought to the end, a final worthy of this name, also a big celebration for the public, with everything that has happened this season.
He stressed;
I would really like to sit on the Juventus bench again next year. I think I did my job well day by day, trying to win finals. I would like to continue, I love this club.
Pirlo conceded that his first ever coaching job has seen “many difficulties“.
Then the 2006 World Cup winner added;
These victories do not cancel out those ups and downs. It’s a season where I learned a lot.
On his part, Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini, 63, was denied a first trophy of his coaching career, and his club’s second trophy after 1963 Coppa Italia.
He expressed;
It’s a disappointment. We are happy to be at this level, to be able to play this type of game and to qualify for the Champions League for the third consecutive season.
It was Juventus’s first Coppa Italia since 2018, having finished runners-up last year to Napoli. Atalanta also lost the 2019 final to Lazio.
Ronaldo failed to score on the night but has now won every trophy in three of Europe’s five major leagues — England, Spain and now Italy.
A total of 4,300 fans were allowed into a stadium for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.
However, the party was short lived with the Italian government ordering an overnight curfew to come into force in Reggio Emilia after the game starting at midnight.
