In a déjà vu scenario from 2019, Juventus ended their Coppa Italia campaign with a 0-3 defeat to Atalanta in Bergamo.
Juventus starting lineup
Spalletti decided to mirror Atalanta’s 3-4-2-1 formation by reverting to a three-man backline, with Gleison Bremer operating in between Federico Gatti and Lloyd Kelly.
In the middle of the park, Manuel Locatelli and Khephren Thuram kept their places, while Pierre Kalulu and Andrea Cambiaso worked the flanks. Francisco Conceicao and Weston McKennie supported Jonathan David in attack.
Juventus made to pay for Conceicao’s misses
Juventus had several chances to score in the first half, especially through Conceicao, who was put through by a long throwball from McKennie, but couldn’t beat Marco Carnesechi, who came off his line to block the shot.
A minute late, the diminutive winger had the Atalanta goalkeeper beaten, but his effort crashed against the woodwork.
The Bianconeri swiftly regretted Conceicao’s missed opportunities, as Bremer was unlucky to give away a spot-kick in the middle of the first period when Ederson’s cross brushed off his hand from close range. Gianluca Scamacca kept his composure to beat Mattia Perin and put La Dea ahead.
Clinical Atalanta Punish the visitors
After the interval, Juventus continued to dominate possession, but they simply couldn’t inflict the damage in the final third.
On the contrary, Atalanta kept their composure, partially thanks to Honest Ohanor and Giorgio Scalvini, who were superb at the back, and bided their time.
The hosts thus managed to add two more goals, the first thanks to a swift counterattack culminating with a cool finish from Kamaldeen Sulemana, and the second stemming from a poor Bremer pass that allowed Mario Pasalic to slot a deflected shot past Perin.
While crashing out of the domestic cup might not be a major blow for Juve’s campaign, the fans will expect them to rally back with a big statement against Lazio on Sunday.
Atalanta 3-0 Juventus
Goals: 27′ Scamacca (A), 77′ Sulemana (A), 84′ Pasalic (A).
Atalanta (3-4-2-1) : Carnesecchi; Scalvini (75′ Kossounou), Djimsiti, Ahanor; Zappacosta (69′ Bellanova), De Roon (C), Ederson, Bernasconi; De Ketelaere (82′ Pasalic), Raspadori (75′ Krstovic); Scamacca (69′ Sulemana).
Juventus (3-4-2-1): Perin; Gatti (64′ Boga), Bremer, Kelly; Kalulu, Locatelli (C) (73′ Koopmeiners), Thuram, Cambiaso (79′ Zhegrova); Conceicao (79′ Openda), McKennie; David (73′ Holm).
3 Comments
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Add a CommentI don’t mind the loss as cup is the game to be sacrificed. But why not rotate the squad?
A lot of wrong choice as well, Gatti should be sold in the winter and keep Rugani for the season. We will have new defenders in the summer.
This is Yildiz’s team and he’s the difference in the attack. Conceicao is useless in the starting but dangerous as a sub.
Bremer is not solid anymore. He should block the pass of the second goal. You can c the hesitancy on his face, scared of a stretch injury?
The result is too much. But I like what Bremer and Mister said after. We’ll look into the next match. We have to come back stronger.
We no longer have a world-class defender, as Bremer is no longer one. We haven’t had a world-class midfielder for 10 years, and we haven’t had a world-class striker since Ronaldo. Yildiz is our only classy player. This is a good working team, but it’s not meant to achieve great goals.