It was a strange one in Bergamo on Thursday, when Juventus were sent out of the Coppa Italia at the quarterfinal stage for the second straight year. The 3-0 scoreline suggests that La Dea ran the Bianconeri out of their building, but it was in fact Juve who were controlling the flow of the action for most of the night, only for Atalanta to score very much against the run of play twice before finishing things off late.
It was a game of weirdness and what-ifs, with an unusual VAR ruling, and a couple of missed shots that could have changed the way the game went. But the whims of fate—plus a couple of Juve’s players just playing well enough—allowed Atalanta to avenge their losses to Juve in the 2021 and 2024 Coppa finals.
Who were those players who weren’t hacking it? Was anyone particularly good? Let’s take a closer look.
MATTIA PERIN – 5. His only save was a relatively straightforward one against Éderson in the early phases of the game. But he seemed off in the moments that mattered. He committed early on Gianluca Scamacca’s penalty, looked like he could have done more on the cross that produced Kamaldeen Sulemana’s goal, and wasn’t well positioned to see Mario Pašalić‘s shot for the third. Not what we’re used to seeing from him.
PIERRE KALULU – 5.5. Lost track of Sulemana’s run on his goal, and his pass completion was only 79 percent. There are times when he really looks like he needs a break.
FEDERICO GATTI – 6. Looked pretty solid out there in his first start since before Luciano Spalletti arrived. Won all four of his ground duels and two of his four tackles, and didn’t let anyone dribble past him.
BREMER – 5. Even the best have a stinker now and again, and this was certainly that for Bremer, who was guilty on the VAR-awarded penalty and whose bad turnover triggered Atalanta’s third goal.
LLOYD KELLY – 6. Blocked three shots and won two-thirds of his duels. Functioned well as a full-back, including a couple of progressive carries.
MANUEL LOCATELLI – 6. Had a key pass and won five of his seven ground duels on the defensive end. One of the better looking Juventini on the day.
KHÉPHREN THURAM – 5.5. Almost turned the game on its head nine seconds into the match, but missed what was admittedly a difficult shot. Wasn’t working to peak form today, and his passing was a bit scattered.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 5.5. Hard to grade this one, because he created a lot of danger, but also failed to make that danger pay. He missed a one-on-0ne against Marco Carnesecchi and then hit the bar seconds later, failing to make Juve’s two best chances pay off. He had a pair of key passes but also ruined a few attacks by putting his head down and charging ahead blindly. His talent is obvious, but he still needs to pull it all together.
WESTON McKENNIE – 5. A surprise given his recent form. He mishandled passes in the box constantly, and shots you would expect him to put on frame were skewed badly. Hopefully a one-off dud.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 5. Seeing Cambiaso in this position when the lineups came out made sense. Unfortunately Cambiaso didn’t perform much better. He did play a few good crosses, one of which ended up a key pass and one other that was headed away by the defense before it got to Bremer on the far post. He only completed two-thirds of his passes.
JONATHAN DAVID – 5.5. Didn’t get a whole lot of service, not even taking a shot, but did have two key passes and was prevented from getting a shot off once or twice by some very good defending.
JÉRÉMIE BOGA – 6. Looked very good in his first match in Juve colors. Nearly had an assist with his first touch, and was more dangerous than anyone who started. Don’t be surprise to see him starting against Lazio if he has it in his legs.
EMIL HOLM – 5. Didn’t have much impact on either side of the ball.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5. Royally booed every time he touched the ball, but didn’t make much impact on the match.
EDON ZHEGROVA – NR. Didn’t do much, and came on at a point the game wasn’t in reach anymore.
LOÏS OPENDA – NR. Only touched the ball nine times, couldn’t do much of anything to affect the game.
Spalletti seems to have a game every now and then where he either completely misreads the situation or makes some moves that really don’t make sense.
Today’s weird move was taking David out with 15 minutes left, altering the formation and seemingly employing McKennie as a false nine. He’s been talking a lot in recent weeks about the Texan being capable of playing striker, but he also ought to remember what happened to him the last time he played a false nine. Lo and behold, minutes after that move Atalanta scored their second.
Experimenting with Cambiaso further forward with Kenan Yildiz out was not a bad idea—he did it under Thiago Motta last year—but the move didn’t really pan out as Cambiaso’s bad form continued.
Hopefully this was just a one-off dud, because Spalletti is going to need to be on his game the rest of the month.
The team gets a week off before heading to the San Siro for the second Derby d’Italia of the season. Then the Champions League playoff begins with a trip to Galatasaray, then Juve host Como before the Turkish giants come for the return.
