30 March 2016
Juventus’ Primavera toasted the club’s ninth Viareggio Cup success following this afternoon’s 3-2 triumph over Palermo, making them the competition’s most successful side of all time alongside Milan.
The win came five minutes from the end of a tough and hard-fought encounter, with Alessio Di Massimo successfully converting a penalty to send the Bianconeri contingent, led by coach Fabio Grosso, into raptures.
All looked to be going according to plan for Juventus when Grigoris Kastanos shot them in front on 15 minutes, latching on to Roman Macek’s cross from the right to fire home with aplomb, only for Palermo to level matters 13 minutes later through Antonio La Gumina’s close-range finish following a Mattia Del Favero save.* *
With the torch paper nicely lit, two penalties in the space of four minutes saw the pendulum once again swing in both directions. First, Vadalà’s spot kick restored the Bianconeri’s lead on 33 minutes, before Gumina drew the Rosanero level with his second of the encounter.
A tightly-contested second half, high on drama as Palermo pushed for a winner, looked to be edging towards a penalty shoot-out with five minutes left to play, but Di Massimo had other ideas, winning and converting a spot kick to bring home the trophy for Grosso’s side.
Today’s Viareggio Cup triumph represents the first step of a potential treble for the club’s high-flying Primavera outfit, who will go in search of their second target of the season when they entertain Inter in the first leg of the Coppa Italia final on Thursday 7 April at Juventus Stadium.
