Coppa Italia Final 2020/21: Mentality switch or flexibility – what led Juventus to triumph against Atalanta? – tactical analysis

Juventus have had their most inconsistent season in recent years and it seems like Andrea Pirlo still couldn’t find the best strategy in order to use his players to their strengths and achieve a balance between the lines. This led to them strolling out of the Serie A top three and found them fighting for a Champions League spot next year.

On the other side, Atalanta have been performing solidly, moving into a direct fight with Milan and Napoli for the second place, showing a winning mentality and drive for improvement, after Inter gave no chance to either of them to pursue the title.

Winning the Coppa Italia title was Juventus’ only secure way for saving their season after a scare that theyll finish the season without a single achievement and out of the Champions League spots having in mind the intense battle for the top places in Serie A.

For Atalanta, it was a chance to get a reward for their hard work over the past few years, which saw them become a constant threat to the biggest clubs in Italy.

The final started well for the Bergamo team who produced many chances and were dictating the tempo but couldn’t take advantage of Juventus’ errors. The Bianconeri seemed disorganised in the first half, which led to a few missed opportunities and defensive vulnerability, resulting in 1-1 on half-time.

Juventus stepped up after the break and took the initiative, looking way more confident on the ball and managing to exploit Atalanta’s weaknesses well, which led to them taking the 2-1 lead and winning the Coppa Italia, making sure they’ll not be without a trophy this season.

This tactical analysis will examine both teams’ tactics and look if Juventus’ second-half improvement was just a mentality switch or they proved tactical flexibility with it.

Line-ups and formations

Gian Piero Gasperini lined Atalanta up in their usual 3-4-2-1 with Pierluigi Gollini on the goal, suppored by the centre-backs José Luis Palomino, Cristian Romero and Rafael Tolói. Robin Gosens and Hans Hateboer were employed as wing-backs as per usual, while Marten de Roon and Remo Freuler covered the central areas.

In attack, Matteo Pessina and Ruslan Malinovskiy made sure to support Duván Zapata, both moving out wide in efforts to create short pass combinations and bypass Juve’s defenders.

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