Juventus vs. Lazio: Winners and Losers from Coppa Italia Final
Juventus clinched a record-breaking 10th Coppa Italia title with a 2-1 victory over Lazio on Wednesday evening, although they needed extra time to do so.
Massimiliano Allegri's side got off to the worst possible start as Stefan Radu headed Lazio into the lead after just four minutes at the Olimpico, although Juve responded almost immediately through Giorgio Chiellini's emphatic close-range strike. From that point on it was an even, hard-fought cup final, and ultimately neither team was able to find a winner inside the 90 minutes.
Lazio appeared to be fading the longer the game went on, however, and in extra time, Juventus finally found the breakthrough. It came after Lazio's Filip Djordjevic saw his strike agonisingly spin away off both posts—Juve went up the end as substitute Alessandro Matri justified his introduction with a smart finish from inside the box.
Lazio pushed desperately for an equaliser in the final minutes, but Juventus's defence proved impregnable—Allegri's side duly completed the second leg of their potential treble. Next up, the Champions League final.
Click on for some winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Andrea Pirlo (and the Juve Defence)
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He's still got it. In the end, it was class that held for Juventus as they beat Lazio, and it was Andrea Pirlo who provided it.
The veteran schemer became the game's driving influence the longer it went on, as his ability to pick a pass became more decisive as Lazio's defenders gradually began to tire and spaces slowly began to open up. It was little surprise that his ball over the top ended up creating the winning goal, as Pirlo had produced a few such passes in the minutes before that had resulted in similar dangerous situations.
In the 97th minute, it stuck; Pirlo's lofted ball found Tevez inside the box, and the resulting confusion ending up with Alessandro Matri bundling the ball into the back of the net.
On another night, without Pirlo in the middle of the park, Juventus may have lacked the guile and craft to break down a resilient Lazio side who looked determined to make the most of their shot at silverware. Thanks to Pirlo, that resolve alone was not enough—and Juve are one step closer to an historic treble.
Credit too should go to the Juventus defence, who once again proved its quality with a fine display of organisation and determination during extra time.
A week after holding Real Madrid goalless for the final 30 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu to reach the Champions League final, Juve's back line once again shut up shop for the final 25 minutes at the Olimpico and did not give their opponents so much as a sniff at an equaliser.
Those are two impressive defensive efforts, and a third will be needed in a few weeks' time when they contest the Champions League final against Barcelona.
As Allegri said, per ESPNFC:
"Lazio had a great game, it was worthy of a final and we knew this would be different from in Serie A. We did well, they did well, they were unlucky hitting the woodwork twice in the same move and we were fortunate on our goal.
Football is made of incidents. Before their upright we had two or three favourable situations we didn't make the most of.
They were very aggressive in the first half, while we did better after the break and should've been sharper, as two or three times we delayed the pass when attacking the line.
"
Winner: Alessandro Matri
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Alessandro Matri got to enjoy every boy's dream on Wednesday night, as he scored the winning goal in a cup final to play the hero of his side.
Matri has had a difficult season with Juve, essentially relegated to a supporting role as Carlos Tevez, Alvaro Morata and Fernando Llorente occupy the striking roles under Allegri. When he was brought on in the closing minutes at the Olimpico, it was a rare chance for the Italian to have a decisive impact—and one he took with both hands.
Matri already thought he had won the cup in normal time, when his first-time finish from Pirlo's through ball found the bottom corner. Unfortunately the linesman's flag was raised—replays showing it was certainly a borderline call.
No matter. Seven minutes into extra time, Matri would have his moment, the striker in the right place at the right time after Tevez's shot was blocked to take on the rebound and lash a shot beyond Etrit Berisha and into the back of the net.
The yellow card he received for removing his shirt in celebration was more than worth it. Matri had fired Juventus to victory, a moment he will surely savour for many years to come.
Loser: Stefano Pioli
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Oh, the pain of being a football manager. Stefano Pioli did almost everything right on Wednesday, with a tactical plan that seemed to work and players fighting for the cause. He was within a whisker of seeing his side go ahead in extra time.
Initially starting with a three-man defence that mirrored Juventus's chosen lineup, Pioli sent his side out with an intensive-pressing, combative approach that reaped immediate dividends. Radu's header was the perfect start Lazio were after, and it was just unfortunate that Chiellini would hit back immediately.
The effort involved in all that initial pressing started to show on the Lazio players as the game wore on, but they were nevertheless able to force extra time.
Then came the turning point of the match, as substitute Filip Djordjevic (who had earlier fluffed a decent opening) hit a brilliant 25-yard shot that beat Marco Storari's outstretched arms, ricocheted off both posts and away to safety. An inch the other way, and Lazio could have been celebrating at the final whistle, not Juventus.
Pioli's Lazio have had a brilliant season, on the verge of Champions League qualification and reaching the final of the Coppa Italia. This was a great opportunity for that run to be capped off with something tangible, but ultimately it wasn't to be.
Such opportunities to win silverware can be few and far between for all but the elite managers, and Pioli may wonder when such an opportunity will arise for him again.
Winner: Felipe Anderson
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It would be difficult to apportion any particular blame to any Lazio players for the defeat—in the end they worked hard and just came up marginally short. (Although Etrit Berisha should perhaps have done better with Matri's winner.)
If Djordjevic's shot had been even an inch further to the left, it might have been an entirely different story.
Indeed a lot of the players put in creditable performances, including the goalscorer Radu (who eventually limped off injured), Antonio Candreva, Dusan Basta and Marco Parolo. But it was Felipe Anderson who was expected to be his side's main attacking threat in the buildup to the match. So it proved, with the Brazilian proving to be an electrifying presence whenever he got on the ball.
Anderson was always willing to accept the ball in tight spaces, consistently beating his man and opening up dangerous spaces for his teammates. His final ball could have been better on occasions and his decision-making on others, but Anderson always looked capable of creating something against a defence we know to be one of the best in Europe.
A lot of eyes are on Anderson at the moment, with the attacker seen as a possible transfer target for some of the biggest clubs in the world. You would suggest that many of those clubs watched him to see how he handled the pressure of the cup final situation and the expectation of being his club's main attacking inspiration.
If that was the case, then surely most scouts would have come away quietly impressed. The 22-year-old might still be a raw prospect (arguably another year with Lazio would do help his development immensely), but this display, even in a losing effort, may have convinced clubs to make him a greater summer priority.
Loser: Antonio Conte
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Watching on from the stands in his capacity as Italy manager, Antonio Conte's smile seemed rather fixed in place as the final whistle went and Juventus's victory was confirmed.
First his successor as Juve manager, Max Allegri, did something Conte never managed and reached the Champions League final (Conte, in fact, never got close), and now here was Allegri doing it again, winning the Coppa Italia for the club's first time since 1995.
Now, granted, the Coppa Italia might not be the most sought-after prize in football, but it remains a trophy nonetheless. Conte may not be a particularly insecure man, but even he might be wondering if his legacy at the club he has dedicated almost his entire professional career to is slowly beginning to be diminished by the man who replaced him.
When Conte left the club last summer, it was a shock, and the fans reacted in furious fashion when Allegri—a man deemed to be markedly inferior to the outgoing boss—was chosen as the successor. Roll on less than 12 months, however, and Allegri is on the verge of a treble—something Conte never got close to achieving.
No wonder Conte's smile looked a little fixed. In his absence, things seem to be only going from strength to strength at Juve.
Winner: Roma
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One unlikely winner from the final? Roma, who will surely have delighted in seeing Lazio subjected to 120 minutes of energy-sapping action (and then, after all that, a horribly painful defeat).
Roma and Lazio are still among the teams fighting for Champions League qualification spots over the final weeks of the Serie A season, and they face each other at the Olimpico on Monday. Roma have the upper hand at the moment in the table, but they have struggled horribly for form recently. So they will surely have been pleased to see their city rivals get put through such a rigorous match so close to a potentially decisive derby.
Fatigue, like form, can often go out of the window in such games—but having a second intense match so soon after another will surely not give Lazio any advantage. They looked tired at the end of this game, and Roma will be hoping a vestige of tiredness remains next time they walk out at the Olimpico.
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