In view of the match between Juventus and Roma in the match scheduled for Sunday 5 May at 8.45pm in the Olympic Stadium of the Capital, let’s relive one of the many unforgettable matches of the past between the Bianconeri and Giallorossi – the one which in 2014, again in May but with the championship already concluded and won by the boys coached by Antonio Conte, he gave a last-gasp success to a Juventus team heading towards a record that was truly difficult for anyone else to beat: exceeding the threshold of 100 points won in a single year. On that occasion, the insight of a former player was fundamental, of a talent like Daniel Osvaldo who, with that goal a few moments from the end, managed to write his name in the long and glorious Juventus history.
JUVE’S RECORDS OF 2014: AN UNCONTAINABLE TEAM
A championship dominated by the Bianconeri, who for several months had found Roma to be the most difficult opponent to contend with – and a team unbeaten at home for a year, arriving at the 37th matchday ready to ruin the party for Juventus, who arrived in the capital with the aim of making history. A big match of the highest level therefore, despite the stakes being relative: the result was a match in which Conte’s boys demonstrated for the umpteenth time their solidity and concreteness, capable of breaking the deadlock at any moment. On that occasion it took them a while, despite a first half in which goal-scoring actions followed one another for the Bianconeri. The first is Tevez wasting a good opportunity by fiddling in an unnatural way for his standards, then Llorente begins his duel with Skorupski: in the 26th minute Castan jumps but his shot is blocked, five minutes later Pogba puts it on the attacker’s head a ball to be transformed into a goal, but the Spaniard lands it in the arms of the opposing goalkeeper. Finally, Llorente goes around Benatia again in the 34th minute, but shoots high. In the final, however, the most important opportunity of the match falls at the feet of the aforementioned Pogba: just inside the area, with a feint he sends two opponents to the ground and hits the post with his left foot. It’s 0-0 at half-time.
OSVALDO THINKS ABOUT IT IN THE SECOND TIME: NO ONE HAS NEVER BEEN SO HIGH
In the second half it is clear that the pace is now decidedly more composed and that an unexpected shock is needed to change the inertia: it is given by the former player of the day, Daniel Osvaldo – who moved to Turin on 31 January of that year on loan six months free, changing shirt in the midst of the Scudetto fight (which the Bianconeri then managed to settle with victories). When the attacker enters a quarter of an hour from the end he is inundated with boos, but then in the 94th minute, on the last useful and playable ball of the match, the sharp moment arrives: Pogba serves Lichtsteiner, a low cross and Osvaldo throws the ball right at the top corner. It is the perfect ending, the one with 99 points that allow Juventus to surpass the record of 97 collected by Inter in 2007, to bring home the 32nd victory in 37 games played and to target the 102 points that make that group the most successful team in the history of Serie A. Also thanks to Daniel Osvaldo’s only career league goal for Juventus.
