Gigi Buffon edged towards the touchline, bouncing from one foot to the other and squirting himself in the face with a water bottle. Behind him, Juan Cuadrado grabbed two more – preparing to drench their manager, Massimiliano Allegri, when the final whistle went. The rest of Juventus’s bench gathered around them, ready to rush on to the pitch.
You might think this team would be underwhelmed by the prospect of lifting yet another Coppa Italia. But you would be wrong. To watch Juve’s players celebrate their 2-0 victory over Lazio in Wednesday’s final was to understand that part of the reason they keep on winning is because they enjoy it too much to stop.
Yes, there are more important targets this season. The front pages of Thursday morning’s sporting newspapers were explicit in defining this as only the first, necessary, step towards the treble Juventus have dreamed of. Even the players themselves, as they danced with their trophy in the changing room, sang about going to Cardiff. And yet, in one sense, a treble has already been completed. The Bianconeri are the first team since the Coppa Italia was founded in 1922 to win it three times in a row.
They made it look easy, too, piercing Lazio’s defence twice in the opening 25 minutes, then cruising the rest of the way. Perhaps things might have gone differently if Keita had buried the Biancocelesti’s one early chance, when the game was still goalless, instead of seeing it deflect of Andrea Barzagli’s hand and on to a post. Another referee, on another day, might have given a penalty, but it would have been harsh.
Instead, Dani Alves opened the scoring not long afterwards. That’s right, him again – the man whom Leonardo Bonucci has defined as an “extra-terrestrial” – making a mockery of all those who believed his star had already burned out. This was the fifth time in as many games that Alves had chipped in a goal or an assist.
He is a player built for the big stage. Way back in August, Buffon confessed that he had spoken to Alves about winning the Champions League. “I asked him to help us old guys, especially, to achieve that dream which we’re still playing for,” said the keeper. “Because he has a familiarity with certain objectives and certain kinds of victory.”
It would have been more accurate to say that Alves is well acquainted with every type of success. By Gazzetta dello Sport’s count, this was the 30th final in which he has played, and the 25th that he has won. The Coppa Italia might not be the most prestigious piece of silverware in his collection, yet no one looked more delighted to get their hands on it.
He was not the only player to excel against Lazio. In fact, he was not even the only Brazilian wing-back to do so. After volleying home that opening goal, Alves simulated polishing Alex Sandro’s boots – not the other way around. The latter player had created the opportunity with an outrageously ambitious cross from mid-way inside Lazio’s half.
Amid all the praise that has (justifiably) come Alves’s ways in recent weeks, Sandro has at times been overlooked. And yet, he is every bit as essential in making Allegri’s hybrid 3-5-2/4-2-3-1 function, just as capable of alternating his role between full-back and wide forward.
Juventus knew they had acquired a special talent when they signed Sandro from Porto in 2015. This was a player whom Roberto Carlos was happy to call his heir, “except, I have to admit, more precise in his crossing than I ever was”. Like so many others – and certainly like Alves – Sandro took a little time to adjust to the tactical demands of Serie A, but today he is the best left-back in the league.
Having created the first goal, he went on to serve the assist for the second as well – flicking Paulo Dybala’s corner into the path of Leonardo Bonucci, who side-footed home after 24 minutes. Juventus’s lead might have already been even larger, were it not for Thomas Strakosha’s brilliant point-blank save to deny Gonzalo Higuaín.
Lazio did rally in the second half, and went close to reducing the deficit on a couple of occasions. Even so, you could never have called this a close contest. Perhaps Simone Inzaghi had been wrong to start Marco Parolo, the midfielder limping out after 21 minutes, unable to overcome the knee injury he sustained against Fiorentina, but the reality is that Juventus, when everything clicks, are simply on a different level to Serie A’s fourth-best team.
None of which stopped Allegri from ranting, raving and generally thundering around his technical area with the demeanour of a man whose team were 3-0 down. He knows that a part of his challenge at this point of the season is simply to keep his team on edge, to make sure that they do not allow themselves prematurely to believe that the job is done.
Juve’s players were ready to celebrate their Coppa Italia triumph on Wednesday night. But you can be sure that they did not need Thursday morning’s newspapers to remind them there are still two bigger targets left to go.
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