Juventus 3-3 Atalanta
Serie A
Sunday
22nd January 2023
Juventus Stadium
Juventus has to start a big catch-up race after the fifteen-point deduction in Serie A, but has not given a convincing start. In a spectacular match against Atalanta Bergamo, both teams took a point: 3-3.
After awarding the fifteen minus points, Juventus can no longer afford a slip if it wants to return to the places that entitle it to participation in European football. However, the team of coach Massimiliano Allegri had their hands full with Atalanta, which already took the lead in the fourth minute. Wojciech Szczesny misjudged a diagonal shot by Ademola Lookman: 0-1.
Halfway through the first half, Juventus came alongside: a foul by Éderson on Nicolò Fagioli resulted in a penalty kick, which was converted by Ángel Di María. With a nice heel ball on Fagioli, Di María was also at the base of the 2-1; after Fagioli’s cross, Arek Milik successfully took the ball out of the air.
In the second half, Atalanta turned the game around again. Joakim Maehle made it 2-2 35 seconds after the break, after which Lookman headed in against the direction of Jérémie Boga. It was already the third official game in a row in which Lookman scored twice. In addition, Juventus, which lost 5-1 to Napoli in the previous round, conceded eight goals in two consecutive league matches for the first time since November 1988.
Juventus came from a rehearsed free kick to 3-3. Di María served Danilo, who hit the ball between the wall in the corner. Juventus was lucky, because there did not really seem to be a violation. A decisive seventh goal did not come. Hans Hateboer and Marten de Roon were on the field for ninety minutes at Atalanta; Teun Koopmeiners was suspended.
Allegri’s press conference
Allegri spoke extensively in a press conference. The day before the top match against Atalanta Bergamo, he suddenly found Juventus back in tenth place in the ranking. The coach tried to keep his focus on the team, remarking, “Tomorrow we have an important game. A special game, after what happened yesterday. We need to join hands more than ever. Just think about our work in the field.”
The fifteen-point deduction is partly based on the battle for a Champions League ticket. It seems to be getting heavy now. Although Allegri still wants to go full for a place in the billion dollar ball. He concluded, “if we win, we can just be seventh again. And we’re still playing in the Europa League, if you win it… We have to do our best. And this must never happen again.”
