Vlahovic the hero as Juventus ends trophy drought with Coppa Italia win

Juventus won their first trophy in three seasons as a Dusan Vlahovic goal was enough to help them win the Coppa Italia against Atalanta.

Juventus started the game with purpose and opened the scoring after just 4 minutes through Vlahovic.

The Serbian’s goal was a fine finish from one of Juve’s best players this season, and it set the tone for the game.

Atalanta began to look for an opening, but it was never found as Juventus defended brilliantly, with Gleison Bremer standing out once again.

Juve were on top for much of the first 17 minutes as they were the first to every second ball and showed a lot of intent in attack.

This forced Isak Hien to earn a yellow card as he had been struggling to cope with an inspired Vlahovic.

More often than not, Juventus had all their players behind the ball in the first half as Atalanta struggled to equalise, despite the best efforts of Ademola Lookman.

Juventus continued to enjoy the better spell of possession, with even Hans Nicolussi Caviglia working tidily to ensure Juve did not lose their advantage, much to the frustration of La Dea.

Apart from that goal, neither team had a clear sight of the goal again as Juve defended deeply and searched for counter-attacking opportunities, while Atalanta struggled to break the Bianconeri down.

At the start of the second half, La Dea looked far more determined and were the better team on and off the ball.

However, they still could not get a clear chance. Lookman came closest to scoring, but his shot was deflected for a corner after 51 minutes.

Three minutes later, Vlahovic believed he should have been awarded a penalty, but the referee was not interested, and the Serbian was cautioned for dissent.

Atalanta then made a triple substitution to boost their efforts, and Max Allegri also brought on Fabio Miretti for Hans Nicolussi Caviglia.

In the 69th minute, Allegri brought on Kenan Yildiz for Federico Chiesa and three minutes later, Juventus had the ball in the back of the net again through Vlahovic, but it was ruled out for offside.

Vlahovic had proven to be Juve’s most important player in the game, and he again got another Atalanta player cautioned.

Lookman had been Atalanta’s danger man all game, and in the 80th minute, the Nigerian striker hit the frame of the post with a fine individual effort.

Allegri responded to that by bringing on Arkadiusz Milik and Tim Weah for Vlahovic and Andrea Cambiaso.

Miretti then had a chance to send Juventus home, but he smashed his shot against the crossbar after beating Marco Carnesecchi.

Juve was now looking to wind down the clock, and Bremer was yellow-carded for time-wasting.

Atalanta had another chance to score, but Perin saved well. A foul occurred in the build-up to that move, and Allegri was shown a red card as he protested.

Juve held on to their lead without their manager and won their first trophy in three seasons, claiming their 15th Coppa Italia trophy.

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