20 May 2016
Last season brought the Decima, marking the end of a 20-year drought in Italy’s premier knockout competition.
Exactly one year on from the Bianconeri’s record-breaking 10th trophy, Massimiliano Allegri’s men are preparing to make history once more at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico as they go in search not only of extending their own record for cup crowns to 11 but also in achieving what no club has done before: winning both Serie A and the Coppa Italia in consecutive seasons.
On the eve of a potentially unprecedented feat, Juventus.com takes a look back at the Old Lady’s extensive love affair with the country’s premier knockout competition and sets the scene for Saturday’s date with destiny in the capital against Milan.
THE FIRST!
1938: Juventus 5-2 Torino (agg.)
History needs to begin somewhere and when it does, why not achieve it at the expense of your local rivals?
Victories over Torino this term set the Bianconeri on course for an eventual history-making title triumph, while also marking the first step of their Coppa Italia defence, and fittingly the Granata were the opposition in Juve’s first ever cup final triumph just under 80 years ago.
As with this current campaign, the Bianconeri eliminated title rivals Inter in semi-finals – to whom they narrowly conceded top spot in Serie A by one point – to set up a tantalising two-legged showdown with Torino.
During the first encounter at the Stadio Filadeflia, Walter D’Odorico equalised for the Granata ten minutes ahead of the break following Savino Bellini’s opener. With 18 minutes remaining, Lodovico Defilippis added a second for the visitors before Bellini grabbed his second and Juve’s third as the club put one hand on the trophy.
Torino began the return leg in earnest a week later, going ahead courtesy of Fioravante Baldi’s strike as they attempted to pull off a spirited comeback.
But it would not be enough to swing the momentum in the visitors’ favour as Guglielmo Gabetto, top scorer in the Old Lady’s Serie A campaign and one of the club’s all-time marksmen, hit a quick-fire first-half double to restore control of the tie and bring the cup home to the black and white half of Turin.
THE OLD LADY AND THE DEVILS, ROUND 1
1942: Juventus 5-2 Milan (agg.)
Juventus’ second Coppa crown and the first of two to come at the expense of Milan would arrive just four years later and with the same 5-2 aggregate scoreline. Unlike the Bianconeri’s first final against Torino, 1942’s success was a story of two markedly different legs.
Having fortuitously secured a 1-1 draw at the San Siro thanks to final specialist Bellini, Luis Monti’s men approached the return tie on home turf in the knowledge that only a radically improved performance would see them crowned champions: a clinical hat-trick from Riza Lushta, the highest scoring foreigner of the 1941/42 season, made certain of that.
The Serb struck once in the first half and twice in two second-half minutes to put Milan to the sword, who had briefly given themselves a fighting chance by reducing the deficit to 3-2 with half an hour to play.
Lushta’s match-winning treble would also see the striker end the Coppa campaign as leading scorer with eight goals.
BACK-TO-BACK BIANCONERI
1958/59: Inter 1-4 Juventus
Omar Sivori and John Charles were Juventus’ strike pairing the last time the Bianconeri won back-to-back Coppa Italia titles and, typically, the legendary duo would leave an indelible mark in both finals against Inter in 1959 and 1960.
It would be the latter to hand his side the advantage at the San Siro, the first of three goals across the two showpieces for the Welshman, with Sergio Cervato’s effort following shortly afterwards to send Juve into the interval with a 2-1 advantage.
Sivori restored the two-goal cushion minutes after the restart, before Cervato helped himself to a second from the penalty spot to end Juventus’ 17-year wait for glory.
1959/60: Juventus 3-2 Fiorentina (aet.)
The 1960 edition proved to be one of the most entertaining and nail-biting Coppa Italia finals in the competition's history.
Charles gave Renato Cesarini’s men the lead once again early on with a real thunderbolt of a strike from distance:
However, the Viola would put the scoreline on its head by netting either side of half-time through Miguel Montuori and Dino Da Costa.
With defeat staring the Old Lady in the face, Charles took the game by the scruff of its neck, sending it into extra-time.
As tiredness crept in for both sides, Fiorentina centre-back Alberto Orzan turned into his own net on 97 minutes before Juventus showed fantastic grit to see the result out and secure back-to-back Coppa Italia titles.
UNDERDOGS
1965: Juventus 1-0 Inter
Champions of Europe, Inter, approached the final as firm favourites, facing a Juventus side who had finished the Serie A season in a disappointing fourth position.
The Bianconeri, however, didn’t keep to the pre-match script and edged themselves in front early on when Giampaolo Menichelli capitalised on a goalkeeping error to roll the ball home.
Heriberto Herrera’s side, who possessed the tried and tested defensive trio of Giancarlo Bercellino, Ernesto Castano and Sandro Salvadore, repelled waves of Nerazzurri attacks throughout the remainder of the game.
Roberto Anzolin, the last line of the defensive spine, also showed his mettle in the encounter’s latter stages, pulling off a series of top-drawer saves as Juventus pulled off an unexpected cup final coup.
BRIO AND CAUSIO TO THE RESCUE
1979: Juventus 2-1 Palermo (aet.)
Despite an unsuccessful campaign in both Italy’s top flight and the Champions League, Giovanni Trapattoni’s Juventus enjoyed a great Coppa Italia run, beating the likes of Fiorentina and Inter en route to the final.
Standing in the Old Lady’s way from a sixth title were underdogs Palermo, who took a surprise lead following a defensive mix-up, Vito Chimenti slotting into an empty net after only 60 seconds. And that’s how it remained until the 83rd minute before Sergio Brio sent the game into extra-time, finishing off a classic Bianconeri counter-attack.
As penalties loomed, a long ball into the box dropped to Franco Causio’s feet, with the winger firing into the bottom corner to net the crucial winner and down the stubborn Rosanero.
SEVENTH HEAVEN
1983: Hellas Verona 2-3 Juventus (agg.)
After approaching 1983’s final in high spirits thanks to an unbeaten record of seven victories and four draws, the Old Lady were left with a mountain to climb following first-leg strikes from Hellas Verona duo Domenico Penzo and Domenico Volpati.
Three days later at the Stadio Comunale, Juventus began like a train and it only took them eight minutes to get a foothold back in the tie when Paolo Rossi tapped home from close range.
The Bianconeri were then subjected to an agonising wait for that all-important equaliser, Michel Platini it was who provided the elation as he gambled at the back stick to prod the ball past Claudio Garella on 81 minutes.
An energy-sapping period of extra-time then followed, with both defences putting every sinew of their body on the line to prevent cup heartache. As the seconds ticked further down, left-back Antonio Cabrini latched on to a stray Gialloblu pass, showed a turn of speed to sidestep a couple of markers and delivered an inviting cross which Platini slid in to send the home fans wild.
The final whistle sounded a mere 60 seconds later and signalled Trapattoni’s troops had won their seventh cup title in the most dramatic of fashions.
THE OLD LADY AND THE DEVILS, ROUND 2
1990: Juventus 1-0 Milan (agg.)
For Juventus fans of a certain age, the sight of captain Stefano Tacconi lifting the Coppa Italia trophy high into the Milan sky is one that will live long in the memory, particularly given the goalkeeper’s stunning performance in the second leg.
After a drab goalless draw at Turin’s Stadio Comunale, soon to be UEFA Cup champions Juve produced a magnificent team performance at the newly renovated San Siro to see off Arrigo Sacchi’s then dominant Rossoneri.
Roberto Galia’s goal, Tacconi’s saves, the post-match celebrations, stuff of legend.
DOUBLE #1: PORRINI AND RAVANELLI
1994/95: Juventus 3-0 Parma (agg.)
Juventus vs. Parma was a rivalry that lit up Italian football throughout the 1990s. Regularly jostling shoulder to shoulder in Serie A, the pair even crossed paths in the UEFA Cup final, with the Crociati levelling the scores after the Bianconeri’s narrow Scudetto success.
With the chance of a double at stake for both sides in 1995’s final, it was Juve that demonstrated their ever-lasting confidence on the big stage to win both the league and the cup for the first time in the club’s history.
During the first leg at the Stadio delle Alpi, like Galia before him, stopper Sergio Porrini grabbed his maiden strike for the club when it mattered most to give his team a slender advantage to take to Emilia-Romagna.
Like London buses, Porrini then bagged his second career goal in the reverse fixture after 26 minutes before Fabrizio Ravanelli curled home brilliantly just after the restart as the Bianconeri claimed the cup for the ninth time in their illustrious history. The best though was still yet to come…
DOUBLE #2: CHIELLINI AND MATRI
2015: Juventus 2-1 Lazio (aet.)
Triumph number 10.
Already champions of Italy for a 33rd time, Massimiliano Allegri’s all-conquering Juventus headed south to Rome with one eye on a history-making 10th Coppa Italia crown and the other on a possible treble with a Champions League final against Barcelona to follow a couple of weeks later.
Capital club Lazio, arriving on the back of an impressive third-placed finish in Serie A, had clearly not read the script and would take the lead with their first meaningful foray forward through Stefan Radu.
The all-important equaliser did not take long to arrive, Giorgio Chiellini crashing home superbly on the turn from Patrice Evra’s knockdown.
The words extra-time and Alessandro Matri should be enough to recall what happened next.
Almost a year to the day, the Bianconeri will be hoping that their 11th Coppa Italia triumph will come in less dramatic and more convincing style.
But then, given the tight, intense and nail-biting nature of the previous ten, what would be the fun in that?
