Second Half Chiesa Strike Secures Juventus Coppa Italia Glory
A second half strike from Federico Chiesa handed Juventus the Coppa Italia crown in a 2-1 win over Atalanta on Wednesday.
Around 4,300 spectators were present at the Mapei Stadium to witness the final, and it didn’t disappoint as the game hinged on a knife edge until the Italian forward’s decisive strike.
It was Atalanta who started the brighter of the two, as Duvan Zapata’s fine work down the left to set up Jose Palomino so nearly gave Gian Piero Gasperini’s side the opener, only to be denied by Gianluigi Buffon’s outstretched legs.
Juventus took a while to get going, as a Cristiano Ronaldo attempt from a freekick, and the rebound from the initial blocked effort, was as close as they got in the opening exchanges.
However, after half an hour of play, Juventus took the lead on the counter-attack through Dejan Kulusevski, whose curled effort found the top corner.
The lead only lasted eleven minutes though, as another left footed dynamo in Ruslan Malinovskyi brought things level.
While Juventus looked imbalanced in the first half, they found their groove in the second period.
It seemed a matter of time before the winner would arrive, and so it did. On 73 minutes, Chiesa cut inside, played a neat one-two with Kulusevski, before a neat and composed left-footed finish past Pierluigi Gollini.
