Alessandro del Piero scored in his last league appearance for Juventus as the newly crowned Serie A champions beat Atalanta 3-1 to become the second Italian side to win the title by going the whole season unbeaten.
Del Piero signed off in style in front of the home fans as he doubled Juventus' lead in the 28th minute to cap a near 20-year career with the Old Lady.
Kuventus took the lead in the ninth minute when Marco Borriello forced his way into the area and set up Luca Marrone, who opened the scoring with a powerful right-footed shot.
And Del Piero, who has been at Juventus since 1993, scored his 289th goal for the club shortly before the half hour when he fired home from the edge of the area.
The Juve captain was substituted in the 57th minute to a standing ovation as the players and staff of both teams joined in with the resounding applause for the club icon.
The standing ovation and cheers continued even after Del Piero had left the field and the fomer Italy forward got back off the bench and walked around the pitch saluting the fans and gathering scarves which had been thrown down to him.
The city of Turin was in party mood with hundreds of thousands of fans gathered in the streets as Juventus celebrated its first title in nine years.
Around 5,000 fans welcomed the team bus as it arrived at Juventus Stadium, decorated with three stars as the club still counts the two titles it was stripped of following the 2006 match-fixing scandal.
Antonio Conte's team became only the third side ever to go the entire season without losing a game. Milan also won the title unbeaten in 1992.
Perugia went the entire 1978-79 season without losing a game but didn't win the league.
Atalanta pulled one back eight minutes from time when Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner turned Giacomo Bonaventura's cross into his own net but the home side restored its two-goal advantage in stoppage time after Thomas Manfredini brought down Borriello in the area and Andrea Barzagli fired home the resulting penalty.
The celebrations are set to continue through the night, with an open-topped bus parade planned for this evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment