Juventus has narrowly qualified for the group stage of the Champions League. The team of trainer Andrea Pirlo won on the final day in Serie A with 1-4 against Bologna and passed Napoli, which lost points against Hellas Verona (1-1). Juventus finishes fourth. AC Milan won 0-2 against Atalanta and therefore took over the second place from the competitor. Milan was also not sure of a ranking in the top four prior to the round of play, but can now report on the highest podium in Europe after eight years. Marten de Roon received a red card.
Bologna – Juventus 1-4
Juventus had to win to keep the prospect of participating in the Champions League, but surprisingly enough, started the match without Cristiano Ronaldo. The attacker started on the bench. Sporting director Fabio Paratici insinuated before the game that there was fatigue, although he did not explicitly say so. Despite the absence of Ronaldo, there was no shortage of scoring ability at Juventus. Led halfway through the game la Vecchia Signora already with 0-3; the goals were scored by Federico Chiesa, Álvaro Morata and Adrien Rabiot. The first goal came in the sixth minute. Dejan Kulusevski conquered the ball in the enemy penalty area and sent a tight pass to Rabiot, whose bet landed on the crossbar via the hatched goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski. In the rebound, Chiesa struck from close range. After half an hour, Morata doubled the margin, although the goal was largely due to Paulo Dybala.
Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench in the season’s most important game
Cristiano Ronaldo stayed on the bench for ninety minutes.
The Argentinian turned Jerdy Schouten crazy in the penalty area and bounced the ball on the head of Morata, who could nod in front of the goal line. Just before half time, Rabiot was the end station of a smooth attack and, face to face with goalkeeper Skorupski, made it 0-3. In the break Matthijs de Ligt was taken to the side. The defender was left in pain from a duel with Rodrigo Palacio. Two minutes after the break, Morata doubled his own goal production. The striker received a long cross pass from goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, took the ball superbly, charged at Bologna’s goal and scored with a low shot. A few minutes before the end, Bologna did something back via a diagonal shot by Riccardo Orsolini in the left corner. Dybala hit the post on the other side.
Napoli – Hellas Verona 1 – 1
The home side was quite powerless in the first act and lacked the creativity to break through Verona’s stable defenses. Piotr Zielinski and Lorenzo Insigne, among others, handed out pinpricks, but neither had their sights on sharp. The first big chance of the match for Verona was noted after the break. After a lightning-fast counter, Federico Dimarco came face to face with goalkeeper Alex Meret, who had a nice save on the defender’s effort. After an hour of play, Napoli opened the score. Verona failed to handle a corner kick from Insigne, leaving Amir Rrahmani the ball in front of his feet and convincingly fired in: 1-0.
?? Napoli staggers, Hellas Verona comes alongside … 1-1.#ZiggoSport #SerieA #NapoliVerona pic.twitter.com/hWQrIY2S4N
– Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) May 23, 2021
Moments later, the Neapolitans took the painful equalizer. Koray Günter sent Davide Faraoni away with a long ball from behind. The midfielder beat Elseid Hysaj on speed, created space for the shot and shot through Meret’s hand and the inside of the post to the 1-1. A final offensive by Napoli followed, but the winning goal was not forthcoming. Due to the loss of points, the team of trainer Gennaro Gattuso ends in fifth place in the ranking and misses tickets for the group stage of the Champions League.
Atalanta 0-2 AC Milan
A penalty from Franck Kessié made the difference in Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia. Shortly before the break, Joakim Maehle charged Theo Hernández, after which Kessié moored from eleven meters. The midfielder hit the left corner after a slow run-up. Atalanta was the parent for large parts of the first half, but Milan managed to limit the danger of the home team. With Juventus’ lead, Milan knew the match had to be won to finish in the top four. Atalanta fired many more shots than Milan, but the number of great opportunities was limited.
Milan even managed to expand the margin in injury time. The visitors received another penalty from referee Maurizio Mariani, this time when Robin Gosens got the ball against the arm in the penalty area. Kessié again sought a corner after a slow run-up and did not fail. Shortly before, De Roon had been sent off with a red card. The midfielder reacted angrily to the penalty kick, seemed to push substitute Rade Krunic to the ground and then also dealt a move to the referee. With the win, Milan finished in second place, the highest final ranking since the 2011/12 season.