Juventus 0 – Atalanta 3: Initial reaction and random observations

The final score from Bergamo on Thursday night will say that Atalanta thoroughly beat Juventus. It make things seem like they weren’t close, and that Luciano Spallett’s squad was completely overwhelmed by what La Dea were doing for much of the night.

But that’s not the case.

The scoreline, it can be deceiving. And this one is most certainly a case of that.

Sure, losing by three goals and seeing your Coppa Italia run end in the same round that it did a year ago is not a good look. That is the simplistic view of it. But when you are on the receiving end of a … let’s just say … less-than-questionable penalty call well after the supposed incident actually happened, then you’re suddenly forced to chase the game rather than have things be the way they were for much of the night — pretty dang even. Or maybe even favoring Juventus compared to how Atalanta were playing. But with Spalletti’s squad having to chase rather than truly play things out and the early chances that Juventus had not being converted, it all added up to Juve losing in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals for the second straight season.

Although, unlike last season, I feel pretty safe in saying Atalanta won’t get relegated. Or that Spalletti won’t be fired a few weeks after said Coppa Italia elimination takes place. Or hopefully any of the other things that happened following Juventus being bounced from the Coppa Italia last season.

So at least there’s not the total embarrassment that came with that loss to Empoli, right?

The fact is, the game changed after VAR ruled that Gleison Bremer handled the ball and gave a penalty away to Atalanta. Less than 20 minutes before the half, a performance in which Juventus should have been ahead suddenly turned into a case where they were trailing 1-0 and having to generate scoring chances without their best player on the field. (Which, considering Kenan Yildiz asked to be subbed off at the half all of four days ago, wasn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world. Let the young man rest for a game or two. He needs it.)

But the catch in that is the reality that Juventus should have had the lead even before Atalanta actually went ahead. In terms of really good scoring chances alone, Francisco Conceição should have put Juve ahead. Weston McKennie also had one of the best chances of the night and wasn’t able to convert.

This was far from Atalanta domination that the scoreline would suggest it was. Instead, Raffaele Palladino set his team up well — especially after the goal — and then proved to be very opportunistic to extend their lead.

This should not have been a night in which Juventus didn’t score. They racked up a total of 1.51 xG in the first half alone, with Atalanta pretty much just being dangerous from the penalty spot and that’s it in the first half. One team took their best chance, the other one didn’t — and were left to wonder what could have been if things had been different in front of goal rather than seeing chance after chance go wide, go high or even go crashing off the crossbar.

Or you can point to the fact that the Coppa Italia was Juventus’ only true remaining opportunity to win silverware this season. The Scudetto? Nah, not when you’re 10 points back in February and the league leaders are, unfortunately, looking as strong as Inter are right now. The Champions League? Not this iteration of Juventus, one that still has to get through the play-off round first … and then a whole lot of other tough opposition.

But the Coppa Italia, though? That was the one chance — even with the quarterfinal opponent being a whole lot better than the one eliminated Juventus 12 months ago. (You know, the one that is now playing in Serie B.) Spalletti’s starting lineup, outside of a couple of changes, pretty much signaled that he was going for the win and that he was taking the Coppa Italia seriously.

Maybe we should just go ahead and quote a known calcio aficionado, because these things just happen in football.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• Not a good night for Gleison Bremer Silva Nascimento. Not good at all.
• That doesn’t take into account the fact that I maintain he got jobbed by the VAR review on the handball. I’m not exactly sure what he was supposed to do there other than try and do something completely unnatural when the letter of the law says that he had to be doing something totally unnatural for it to be a handball. That makes sense, right? Because sometimes I don’t even know how to explain some of these things.
• Not a good night for Mattia Perin.
• Not a good night for Weston McKennie, which is something that I haven’t really thought in months.
• Not a good night for Francisco Fernandes da Conceição, either.
• Not the best night for Luciano Spalletti, too. His subs just didn’t take any sort of effect at all. And maybe seemed a little too slow — which, considering how very quick to right the in-game wrongs he and his team make is a little surprising.
• Controversial opinion, but I sure would have liked if Khephren Thuram had scored in the opening minute. Maybe it’s just me, but that would have been really nice to see.
• Speaking of Thuram, I thought this was the game in which Spalletti gave him some rest. That’s because he appears — and that is one man’s opinions from a very far distance away — to be rather tired.
• I can’t be the only person who earned “Berlusconi” every time Lorenzo Bernasconi’s last name was said in the opening 10-15 minutes. Definitely did a double take the first couple of times.
• The sight of Giorgio Scalvini fighting for the ball against Chico Conceição — class Talls & Smalls situation.
• Was Manuel Locatelli one of the few Juventus players who had a really good performance in this one? Because I feel like Manuel Locatelli was one of the few Juventus players who actually played well against Atalanta.
• If only Juventus had converted one of those first-half scoring chances, huh? Guessing that thought is going to float across my brain a few times over the next couple of hours.
• It’s been a while since I’ve seen a goalkeeper with a minus-0.93 goals prevented number, but that is what Fotmob gave to Mattia Perin for his showing against Atalanta. And you know what? Feels about right.
• The good thing is that Federico Gatti is getting some minutes back in his legs. The problem is that he’s not exactly looking all that great over the course of this process.
• Personally glad that Andrea Cambiaso didn’t score an own goal again. I hate that the bar has become that low for Cambiaso because he is a player I have really liked the past few years, but it’s a tough watch when it comes to him these days.
• Juventus’ defense on the second goal … not great.
• Juventus’ defense on the third goal … also not great.
• Atalanta recorded four shots on goal the entire night. They scored three of them.
• Juventus recorded 13 shots total the entire night. They put two of them on target.
• Or maybe they just saw what Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi did over the weekend against Como and just thought themselves “Yeah, let’s not repeat any of that, boys!” (I’m kidding. I’m sure of it.)
• This a well-established fact, but something has to be done about the entire VAR review process. I mean, Atalanta players and coaches weren’t even complaining about a potential handball and then everybody hits the brakes, the game stops and then there’s a review. At some point, you gotta hope they realize that some of these calls are just not actually the correct calls and that you’re just continuing to impact your product.
• Then again, this is Italian football in 2026, so it’s hard to say what they will realize is actually the truth.
• Good first impression Jérémie Boga — especially considering he hasn’t played for six weeks.
• Emil Holm is tall.
• Teun Koopmeiners got the reception we expected him to.
• Three former Atalanta players coming off the bench against Atalanta. Just as we all expected.
• One of the few positives to come out of this one? Kenan Yildiz rested. He needed it.
• So now you either have him back to face Lazio or unleash him on two weeks worth of rest against Inter at the San Siro next weekend. I like the sound of that — especially the second part.
• Let’s just hope that this proves to be a one-off rather than the regression to the mean. It’s up to Luciano to prevent the second half of that sentence from happening. Sure would be nice if that’s the case no matter how tough the schedule is over the next month.