Serie A Wrap up: Juve Lift Serie A Trophy Despite Final Day Defeat
Serie A champions, Juventus were handed the Scudetto last night, but they didn’t end the season the way they’d hoped to, crumbling in a 3-1 defeat to Roma in what would be their first home defeat in 40 matches.
For their final game of the season, talisman Cristiano Ronaldo was rested and watching from the stands alongside his injured on field partner, Dybala, the Portuguese looked very disappointed with his team’s performance and most likey the fact that he missed out on winning the Serie A golden boot finishing 5 goals behind Lazio’s immobile might have added to his frustration.
Nonetheless, all of that pensiveness was wiped his face once he lifted the trophy.
Argentine striker, Gonzalo Higuain gave Maurizio Sarri’s side the lead but Nikola Kalinic headed Roma level before Diego Perotti scored twice to seal the game for Lazio.
The defeat means the Champions who won the league with 2 games to go, ended the domestic campaign with only two wins in their final eight games, recorded back to back defeats in their last two games, dropped points and finished just a point ahead of second placed Inter Milan, and the fans are not having it.
Juventus host Lyon in the second leg of their last-16 tie on Friday.
Maurizio Sarri’s team will need to overcome a 1-0 deficit if they are to progress at the Allianz Stadium, and the fans can only hope for a great outting.
In other final day fixtures, Inter Milan defeated Atalanta 2-0 to finish second with 82 points
Antonio Conte’s Inter were deserved winners with Danilo D’Ambrosio heading them ahead after 50 seconds, before ex – Man Utd player, Ashley Young’s sent home and excellent effort from the left wing to make it 2.
This is the first time Inter have finished second since 2010-11 – and also marks the first time the top two in Serie A were separated by just one point since 2001-02.
Atalanta, on the other hand failed to score for just the third time in Serie A this season, but finished on 98 goals – the highest total by any team in the Italian top flight in 68 years.
Elsewhere, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 38, became the oldest player to score 10 goals in a Serie A season as AC Milan beat Cagliari 3-0
And Lazio striker Ciro Immobile who scored one in his side’s a 3-1 defeat in the hands of Napoli, won the Serie A Golden Boot and European Golden Shoe to seal off a beautiful campaign as he matched Gonzalo Higuain’s record of 36 goals in an Italian top-flight season.
Immobile finished two goals clear of Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski in the European golden shoe race with Ronaldo settling for third with 31 goals
