01 July 2017
Some games can define a season, some can produce a year’s worth of emotion within 90 minutes, some of such importance that they are looked back upon months later as a turning point in the campaign.
Juventus’ dramatic 2-1 victory over Milan on 10 March 2017 can lay claim to doing all of the above.
Medhi Benatia’s thumping strike at the end of a flowing team move set Juve on course for a 31st consecutive home victory on the half-hour mark.
However on the stroke of the interval, Carlos Bacca found the net to restore parity - a situation that would last right up until the final second.
An array of saves from Milan keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma kept the scores level until the very last play, but the Bianconeri, held to a 1-1 draw the previous Sunday away to Udinese, were not to be denied victory for a second week in a row.
With the game lurching towards a stalemate, a heart-stopping finale had Juventus Stadium bouncing like never before during the 2016/17 season.
A final sprawling save from Donnarumma off Gonzalo Higuain looked to have ensured a share of the spoils only for the ball to bounce off a Milan hand in the last minute of added time.
Up stepped Paulo Dybala. One deep breath from the Argentine was followed up with the crispest of drives just centimetres inside Donnarumma’s right-hand post: the final kick of the match and one of the most memorable moments of Juve’s entire campaign.
What a night to be black and white.
WHAT THEY SAID
BEST MATCH SNAPS
THE LEAGUE TABLE
