Juventus finish unhappy season on high note in win over Monza

Juventus was able to put a button on a rough season with some good play and a heartwarming farewell.

It’s not news to anyone that the majority of the 2024 portion of Juventus’ 2023-24 season has been an unmitigated nightmare. Over the last 17 Serie A games of the season, 10 of them were draws and four were losses. The 2-0 win over Monza in Saturday’s season finale was only their third victory in that span — giving them a total of 19 points in those 17 matches. Despite the Coppa Italia win 10 days ago, the vast majority of Juventini were likely welcoming the end of the campaign.

Thankfully, the end came with a smile.

Juventus actually played — I know, bear with me on this one — well against Monza. They still ceded the majority of possession, holding the ball just 41.9 percent of the time, but what they did with that 41.9 percent was a long ways better than anything the team had put together in quite a while. The two goals they scored could have easily been four or even five, and they were strong enough defensively to record their first league clean sheet in a month. All in all, it was enough to end the team’s AFC Richmond-esque string of draws at six, send the fans home happy, and one of their most loyal servants off in style.

Unlike Monday’s match, Paolo Montero did in fact do a little tinkering with the training sessions he had available to him, and altered the ever-standard 3-5-2 into a 3-4-3. Mattia Perin was given the start in goal. Bremer was up against the suspension threshold and would’ve had to sit out the first match of next season had he been booked, so he was given the night off. That made the back three Danilo, Daniele Rugani, and Alex Sandro, who was making his final appearance in a Juventus uniform. Tim Weah and Samuel Iling-Junior served as wing-backs. Nicolo Fagioli made his first start since coming back from suspension, joining with Carlos Alcaraz in midfield. Federico Chiesa and Kenan Yildiz bracketed Arkadiusz Milik in the long-awaited trident.

Raffaele Palladino came in knowing it might be his last match for Monza, as he’s reportedly a candidate for several jobs that might be open in Serie A over the summer. He was hoping to bookend his Monza career with another victory over his boyhood club. To that end he employed a 3-4-2-1. Alessandro Sorrentino started in goal, giving Serie A goalkeeper of the year (and reported soon-to-be Juve signing) Michele Di Gregorio the night off. Armando Izzo, Danilo D’Ambrosio, and Pablo Marí made up the back three. Samuele Birindelli and Perdo Periera bookended Roberto Gagliardini and Matteo Pessina in midfield, while Valentín Carboni and Andrea Colpani supported Dany Mota in front.

Juve’s start was worlds better than Monday’s nightmare against Bologna, and the attacking trident was producing a lot more threat than the standard 3-5-2 had done. Yildiz in particular looked electric every time he touched the ball. Monza were the first team to find the target when D’Ambrosio flicked a free kick toward goal, but Perin parried it away, and his defense came to his aid with a pair of blocks to end the move.

Fagioli looked like he was ready to make up for lost time, not only making some neat passes but also pushing the ball up himself. In the 16th minute he tried to dribble into the channel only for Gagliardini to get the ball off him before he could make danger. Less than 60 seconds later, Iling-Junior intercepted a pass and sent the young midfielder through the middle. He had options for the pass but hadn’t been closed down and decided to let fly from 20 yards out, only to rattle the crossbar.

As the half progressed Juve started to push the issue, and it began to look like they would be the ones to open the scoring. Izzo had to make a desperate slide to block Milik as he slid in for a nice cross by Weah, then had to clear the ball out of the 6-yard box when Yildiz teed it up for a tap-in.

It was Chiesa who finally broke the dam. His first touch off a pass from Milik was a little strong and went right to D’Ambrosio, but it ricocheted into a spot that allowed Chiesa to take it right back in stride, quickly dribble around the center-back, and ripped it into the goal at the near post after Sorrentino committed to the near post too early.

The team’s attitude in the next few minutes was a refreshing change from the majority of the year. Rather than dropping back, they smelled blood and pushed for a quick second—which they got less than two minutes later when Fagioli put in a cross that was met by none other than Sandro, who outfought three defenders to fire in a bullet header at the near post. You couldn’t have written it any better, and his teammates felt the significance of the moment, mobbing the clearly emotional Brazilian.

Palladino tried to change things up at halftime by introducing the more physical Milan Djuric for Colpani. Montero, meanwhile, gave us something that we haven’t had since 2022: Pinso Time.

Carlo Pinsoglio came on for his yearly cameo, and he was immediately called into action when Warren Bondo, an injury replacement for Gagliardini, put a shot on target. It was right at him, though, and he made the easy save to the vocal delight of the crowd. Five minutes later, Pessina hit his own man with a shot from outside the box, but the carom went right to Birandelli, whose attempt to score against his father’s old club was denied by a sprawling Pinsoglio save.

Only a minute later, Juve came a whisker from putting things beyond all doubt when Chiesa took a simple layoff from Yildiz and went for one of those sweet far-post curlers, but didn’t get quite enough bend and the ball banged off the outside of the post. The Italy international was clearly revving up for the Euros, and just after the hour mark he received an absolutely gorgeous dink over the defense from Fagioli, but his first touch was ever so slightly off and Sorrentino was able to rush out and make himself big enough to get a hand on it.

As the half wore on a running battle began between Yildiz and Izzo after an errant elbow from the Turkish teenager busted the defender open. Monza believed it was more sinister than it probably was and wanted more of a punishment from referee Maria Sole Ferreria Caputi, who wasn’t interested in the protests. After a few more incidents between the two, Yildiz went on a long run and tried to finish solo, but his shot was too straight at right at Sorrentino.

Just after that shot came one of the moments we were waiting for in this match. The sub board went up, and the No. 12 was on it. A clearly emotional Sandro was congratulated one by one by his teammates as he walked off the field at the Allianz for the last time in a Juventus shirt. His replacement was an unexpected one: January signing Tiago Djaló made his Juventus debut. Sandro came back to the bench to compose himself before taking a Lap of Honor around the field, becoming the sixth player since the stadium’s opening to be so honored.

Pinsoglio kept on proving that he can actually do this goalkeeping thing with a reaction save on a close-range header from Djuric, and afterward the game began gliding towards what looked to be an uneventful conclusion until the very last seconds of stoppage time, when Weah caught Mota knee-to-knee as he headed for the byline to cross. Ferreria Caputi initially waved play on, to the astonishment of Monza’s players, who swarmed around her looking for a call. She eventually was called to the VAR monitor, but it was determined that Pessina had handled the ball earlier in the sequence, superseding the penalty call.

A few more minutes were added on for the lost time, during which Monza lost Alessio Zerbin to a second yellow card, and the whistle soon sounded, ending the match and giving way to the postgame ceremonies, where the team paraded the Coppa Italia in front of the fans, as well as presenting Sandro with a jersey commemorating his 327th appearance with Juventus, tying Pavel Nedved’s record for appearances by a non-Italian player.

Also of note post-match was the scene in front of the away end, when Di Gregorio walked there alone and made what was clearly a goodbye to the Monza fans, while rumors fly of his move to Juventus being a formality.

LE PAGELLE

MATTIA PERIN – 6. Made a nice save on D’Ambrosio earl,y but didn’t have much else to do before he was pulled at the half and replaced by Pinsoglio.

DANILO – 7. Trips all around: three tackles, three interceptions, three clearances. Marked men well and on more than one occasion dispossessed his opponent with an ease that almost looked disdainful.

DANIELE RUGANI – 6.5. Defended well and completed 94.4 percent of his passes to celebrate his contract extension. He’ll be a very useful rotational piece next year as Juve return to European competition.

ALEX SANDRO – 10. A ceremonial 10 for one of the most faithful soldiers the team has had for a decade. His peak was incredible, and even though there’s been a steady decline ever since, it’s only been the last two or three years that he’s really become a liability. He’s one of the most decorated players in team history, winning five scudetti, five Coppa Italia and a Supercoppa. It’s fitting that he played his best game in months for his final game, capping his Juve career off with a goal.

TIMOTHY WEAH – 5.5. Not a particularly productive day for the American, but he could’ve had an assist in the first half had Izzo not blocked Milik on his cross. It ended an underwhelming first season in black and white for the US international, who will head for the Copa America with the USMNT in the summer.

NICOLO FAGIOLI – 7. A tremendous day for my large adult son given the fact that he hadn’t started a game since the first day of October. Got the assist on Sandro’s goal with an excellent corner, and that ball he scooped over the defense for Chiesa in the second half was a pass worthy of Andrea Pirlo. We missed him so much, and his presence in the team next year will be immense.