Vlahovic’s early strike secures 15th Coppa Italia for Juventus

Juventus won their 15th Coppa Italia, thanks to an early Dusan Vlahovic strike, while Atalanta never got a shot on target despite dominating possession.

Their last meeting in the 2021 Final saw Juve emerge 2-1 winners. The previous and only trophy La Dea ever won was in the 1963 Coppa Italia.

The Old Lady needed just four minutes to break the deadlock, as Berat Djimsiti, who was sitting too deep, kept Vlahovic onside from an Andrea Cambiaso through ball. The Serbian held off Isak Hien and fired past the on-rushing Marco Carnesecchi to give Juventus the lead.

Juventus had the chance to make it two, but Federico Gatti nodded a Nicolussi Caviglia corner over the bar.

Juventus backline made exceptional blocks on shots from Ademola Lookman and Mario Pasalic.

De Ketelaere, who scored a brace against Roma last weekend, saw his effort go off target from the edge of the area to waste a promising opportunity.

Cambiaso also wasted another Juventus opportunity on the counter-attack while Gatti threw himself in the way of a Mario Pasalic strike inside the penalty area.

After Juventus restricted Atalanta to a few attacking movements, Gian Piero Gasperini El Bilal Toure was introduced at half-time.

Juventus made another difficult block on Ademola Lookman’s strike, which deflected wide for a corner.

The Referee waved away Vlahovic’s penalty appeals after going down under an Isak Hien nudge.

Koopmeiners failed to hit the target again as his header from a Djimsiti cross was wide.

As Juve were furious at the Referee for not stopping the play when Samuel Iling-Junior was down after a cross struck him in the face, Gleison Bremer made a crucial block on Toure.

 Juventus went on the counter from Atlanta’s corner kick, and De Roon had to track back to help Carnesecchi stop Vlahovic from tapping into an empty net.

Sadly, the Dutchman who went down in tears with a suspected knee ligament issue will miss the Europa League Final.

Atalanta continued to pile pressure as they looked for an equalizer, but Juve was resolute with their defending as Weston McKennie charged down a Koopmeiners effort while Aleksei Miranchuk fired over on the half-volley from 12 yards.

Juventus thought they had scored a second that could halt them just as Atalanta were pinning them back as they had the ball in the net on the counter-attack. 

 Cambiaso released a cross from the right, and Rafael Toloi didn’t get his head to it, but Vlahovic glanced into the far bottom corner. However, the goal was ruled out after VAR showed Vlahovic was offside.

 Atalanta got their best opportunity around 80 minutes as Lookman cut inside to drill onto the base of the near post from the edge of the area.

Juventus again hit the bar rattled as Fabio Miretti hit a scorcher from a tricky angle to smash against the crossbar four minutes later.