It’s a tale that any Juventino/a could a thousand times over the last few years. The team dominates the flow of the game, but can’t cash in on any chances and eventually succumb to a smash-and-grab goal by their opponents that sees them drop points.
Saturday night’s opponent, Atalanta, was one of the more recent examples of the phenomenon. When Juve went to Bergaomo to face La Dea in the Coppa Italia quarterfinal in early February, they dominated possession and game flow, but somehow allowed three
fluke goals while not taking any of their own chances, leading to one of the most misleading 3-0 scorelines in the history of the sport.
It was fitting, then, that the Bianconeri were able to turn that narrative around against that same team, in that same stadium, in a game with huge Champions League implications.
Atalanta were in firm control for the entire first half, but they simply couldn’t make the ball go over the line. They missed the target by razor-thin margins, hit the post, and had attempts charged down by defenders. Of the 10 shots they took in the first 45 minutes, they only hit the target once.
It was just after the break that Juve struck. The MVP of the 2026 calendar year, Jérémie Boga, pounced on a mistake by the Atalanta defense and nudged the ball into the net via the goalkeeper’s hands. It was a bona fide Ugly Goal that turned everything on its head. Atalanta made a strong response, but still couldn’t come up with the finishing touch. They eventually totaled 22 shots, but only three hit the target — one of which was saved rather spectacularly. By the time the whistle blew for the final time, Juve had held on to a critical 1-0 win that gave them a huge boost in the race for the top four, especially with Como still to play league leaders Inter Milan (barf) on Sunday.
Luciano Spalletti, new contract extension in hand, was dealing with some major absences. Dusan Vlahovic was injured again, as were Mattia Perin, Juan Cabal and Vasilije Adzic. But the suspension of Weston McKennie hurt the most. It forced some interesting choices out of Spalletti, who decided to return to his 3-4-2-1 formation, complete with false nine. With Perin down, Michele Di Gregorio started in goal, shielded by Pierre Kalulu, Bremer, and Lloyd Kelly. Emil Holm made his first start since coming over from Bologna in the January transfer window, playing opposite Andrea Cambiaso as the wing-backs. Manuel Locatelli and Khéphren Thuram played in midfield, while Francisco Conceição, Kenan Yildiz, and Boga were deployed up front.
Raffaele Palladino mirrored Spalletti’s formation, though he was also missing a few pieces. Isak Hein and Kamaldeen Sulemana were out, while Gianluca Scamacca and Giacomo Raspadori were only fit for the bench. Marco Carnesecchi started in goal behind Giorgio Scalvini, Berat Djimsiti, and Senad Kolasinac. Davide Zappacosta and Lorenzo Bernasconi were the wing-backs, bracketing the midfield pivot of Éderson and Marten De Roon. Charles De Ketelaere and Nicola Zalewski started behind Nikola Krstovic in the attack.
Atalanta could’ve been up 2-0 within the first nine minutes. It was the seventh minute when Yildiz was mugged trying to hold the ball up near midfield, sending the home side screaming down the field on the counter. Éderson sent Zalewski through a gap in the defense and into the left channel, but the Pole’s finish was ever so slightly off, flashing just wide of the far post with a stranded Di Gregorio beaten. Less than two minutes later, Zalewski swung a free kick in to Scalvini, whose header back against the grain thudded against the far post.
Atalanta maintained firm control of proceedings as the half progressed. In a 12-minute span they had three shots blocked, and failed to take the chances that a discombobulated Bianconeri defense were gifting them. Juve’s first real chance came half an hour into the game, when a Kelly header from a recycled corner kick was deflected behind by Bernasconi.
Both teams threatened near the stroke of halftime. Boga held the ball up well before sending a ball through the middle to find the run of Kalulu, but he put just too much on it and some brave goalkeeping by Carnesecchi prevented the Frenchman from latching on. With the last kick of the half Krstovic nearly gave Atalanta a sensational lead, but missed a little wide, closing the first period with another disappointing miss.
Juventus immediately made them rue those misses. It looked like Juve were about to bemoan a big miss themselves when Conceição’s roll across the box was missed by Boga. The play was kept alive and Holm tried zip in a cross from the byline. It was a ball a goalkeeper the caliber of Carnesecchi should catch in his sleep, but he got tangled up with Djimsiti, allowing it to trickle off the knee of Scalvini and right into the path of Boga. The Ivorian pounced, but didn’t get clean contact. It might well have missed the target had it not taken a touch off a desperate Carnesecchi, which put it on its final flight path to the back of the net.
Palladino immediately beefed up his attack with Raspadori, and Atalanta almost responded 10 minutes after the opener when Scalvini headed a corner back across the box to Djimsiti, but the center-back’s header was scooped off the line by Di Gregorio. Two minutes later, Raspadori tried to hit a ball through a crowd into the box, but Di Gregorio claimed it. It would be the last shot on target for Atalanta all day.
Juve had a golden opportunity to salt the game away in the 66th minute. Holm overpowered Kolasinac and laid the ball across for Thuram, who blazed just over. Raspadori had a ball deflected over the line by Locatelli, then the striker found Zappacosta with a cross only to push the ball wide. Atalanta wanted a penalty when a cross bounced off the upper arm of Federico Gatti, but the rest of that arm was behind his back, and it only took a quick VAR check before the referee signaled to play on. Scamacca barely missed a header three minutes from time, and Atalanta weren’t able to get another shot close enough to trouble the keeper.
La Dea were given six minutes of stoppage time — more than necessary, frankly — but by that point they had run out of ideas, and were simply trying to lob the ball into the box and hope for a good bounce. They didn’t get one, and the final whistle sent Juve home with three huge points.
