Atalanta may be able to have the best season in its history, while Juventus will have to avoid a major disaster: the two teams do not reach the Coppa Italia final in the same dynamic, this Wednesday, at 4 pm (Brasília time).
In just one week, Atalanta could win twice as many titles as they have won in the 127 years since their creation.
The Bergamo club, whose trophy gallery currently has only one Italian Cup (1963), will play the final of that tournament at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, seven days before taking the field to fight for the Europa League title against Bayer Leverkusen.
In Dublin, Atalanta will need to achieve a feat that no German or European team has achieved this season: defeating coach Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, unbeaten in 50 games. But for the players led by coach Gian Piero Gasperini, the task against Juventus seems more favorable.
Atalanta comes from four consecutive victories in the Italian championship, while Juventus continues to suffer in its discreet season, with five consecutive draws, the last on Sunday at its stadium, against the already relegated Salernitana.
Focus now 🔛 Wednesday’s Cup final 🏆 pic.twitter.com/d5TOs2LW2P
— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) May 13, 2024
In the Serie A standings, the Turin team fell off the podium for the first time since August (they are in 4th, with 67 points) and surpass Atalanta (5th) by four points, although the Bergamo team played one game less.
In the two duels this season, the two teams did not go beyond a draw (0-0 and 2-2), but the current context is very different for both teams.
In Bergamo, the whole city supports their team, which excites them with their attacking football, led by Gianluca Scamacca (five goals since mid-April) and Charles De Ketelaere.
Three games per week
Juve fans are not satisfied with the level shown by the team since the end of January: after being on Inter’s heels at the beginning in the fight for the Scudetto, which ended up being won by Inter Milan, they have won only two of the last 15 championship games.
Juventus has won the Italian Cup 14 times, being the team with the most titles in the tournament. But not even the 15th trophy seems capable of saving the head of his coach, Massimiliano Allegri.
“Putting us as favorites against Juventus seems like an exaggeration to me,” said Gasperini.
“This final will be our fourth game in ten days, since February 27th we have played three games a week with a squad limited to 15-16 players”, recalls the Atalanta coach.
Allegri believes that his team has the capacity to show another side in this final.
“It will be a completely different game to the ones we have played in recent weeks, I expect a very balanced game, even if against this Atalanta we cannot allow the slightest mistake”, he warned.
Amid rumors about the arrival of the sought-after coach Thiago Motta, who qualified Bologna for the Champions League, to the Turin giant’s bench, Allegri guarantees that his team is focused on this end of the season.
“There is enthusiasm and desire in this group,” he insisted. “Besides, we’ll know more in about ten days.”
The question that remains is whether by then Atalanta will have added trophies to the room that holds the solitary 1963 cup.
The last ten champions of the Italian Cup:
2023: Inter Milan
2022: Inter Milan
2021: Juventus
2020: Napoli
2019: Lazio
2018: Juventus
2017: Juventus
2016: Juventus
2015: Juventus
2014: Napoli
Clubs that have won most times (in parentheses, the year of the last title):
1. Juventus 14 (2021)
2. Roma 9 (2008)
. Inter Milan 9 (2023)
4. Lazio 7 (2019)
5. Fiorentina 6 (2001)
. Napoli 6 (2020)
Source: Gazetaesportiva
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
