Verona leveller sees Juventus join Milan in Champions League, Napoli miss out

Napoli had to settle for a Europa League spot, finishing fifth one point behind Juventus, after a 1-1 draw at home against Hellas Verona. A pair of Franck Kessie penalities at the end of either half ensured AC Milan finished the season second -- 12 points behind city rivals Inter Milan -- and return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2013-2014 season. Atalanta have also booked a place in the Champions League.

Cristiano Ronaldo was left on the bench by Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo who opted for an attacking line-up of Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata flanked by Federico Chiesa and Dejan Kulusevski. A Morata brace along with goals from Chiesa and Adrien Rabiot prevented Juventus missing out on the elite European competition for the first time since 2012.

Juventus were always in control of the contest and needed just six minutes to hit the front. Morata backheeled to Kulusevski in the box, he cuts back for Rabiot, the former PSG man's shot was saved onto the bar by goalkeeper Skorupski, but Federico Chiesa hit home the rebound. Andrea Pirlo's men never looked back after that moment. 

In the 29th minute, Alvaro Morata doubled Juventus' advantage after Dybala squared for Morata and he tapped in. The Spaniard remained behind the ball from the pass and the goal stood. Bologna offered next to nothing going forward and it all then depended on what happened in the Napoli and AC Milan games. Juve need one of them not to win. At this point, they were both 0-0. 

In the 43rd minute, Kessie put Milan ahead in Bergamo and just before the break Juventus sealed the points. One touch football featuring Chiesa and Kulusevski ended with Adrien Rabiot firing past the keeper. A Napoli goal would have then seen Juventus drop into the Europa League. 

Seconds into the second half, Rodrigo Palacio had a goal disallowed for Bologna for offside and then Alvaro Morata took advantage of a long punt forward by goalkeeper Szczesny to make it 0-4. The flag initially went up for offside, but the VAR overturned the call. 

In Naples, Amir Rrahmani scored for Napoli after an hour against his former club. That meant Juventus were in the Europa League but Marco Davide Faraoni pulled one back for the visitors nine minutes later. 

Juventus nearly made it five 10 minutes from time, but Kulusevski was offside and then in the 84th minute, Bologna got a consolation. Palacio passed to Orsolini who made no mistake. It still all depended what happened elsewhere though.

Kessie converted another penalty for Milan to seal a 0-2 win, but Napoli were unable to get a winner against Verona and Gennaro Gattuso's side will once again have to settle for the Europa League. For Juventus, an unlikely Verona equaliser means they will be in the Champions League once again next term. 

 

May 23, 2021