One of the many wonders of football is simply how many niche and obscure records exist, and a few were broken when [Juventus](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com) took on Atalanta at home Sunday night.
The first record belongs to Atalanta’s 4-0 scoreline, which unsurprisingly is their largest ever win over the Bianconeri in La Dea’s history. But that piece of calcio trivia pales in comparison to an even more egregious record set at the Allianz Stadium. The last time Juventus lost a home game by margin of at least four goals came against cross -ity rivals Torino during the Cold War era.
That’s right, the Juventus faithful have not seen a rout of this nature since October of 1967.
Now, this is some that cannot be confirmed and is very subjective, but the third and most laughable “record” to come from the time between Juventus’ victory over Hellas Verona and the loss to Atalanta. For around six days, the Old Lady was actually in the Scudetto race, so it could be argued that this last week was one of the shortest late-season title pushes of all time.
### **A Landmark Negative**
Another reason football is so wonderful is that it remembers historically crazy scorelines. On an international level, nobody can forget Brasil’s 7-1 win over Germany. On the European front, Aug. 2 is almost a holiday in the city of Munich, as the date represents the scoreline between Bayern Munich and Barcelona during the 2020 Champions League. (Or it could be Feb. 8, depending on how a person was raised to read a calendar.)
But Sunday’s match against Atalanta surely has created a new memorable scoreline — which will be celebrated in Bergamo and a point of ire in Turin.
Now, Juventus has faced similar blowout defeats before, such as their 5-1 away loss to Napoli during their runaway Scudetto campaign in 2023. Atalanta supporters will surely have plenty of content and cheeky replies for Juventini for years to come. Maybe even a banner for the next time that black and white clashes with blue and black.
Any fan closing their eyes during this match may have been reminded of a dreadful time in football and world history alike. The silence of the Juve fans Sunday night was reminiscent of the COVID-19 pandemic era of empty stadiums.
Why?
The fans are fed up, and they don’t want to cheer when they don’t believe what’s happening stands for the best interests of this historic club. At least not for anything positive, that is. Fans in attendance were quick to tell Thiago Motta and the squad that they “are laughable,” “are sick” of them and that this team needs to “respect the jersey.” But even that did not last as a number of fans departed the Allianz after Atalanta’s goal, and a mass exodus began after Juventus went down 4-0.
However, in a nod to the volatile nature of inter-league transfers and fan perceptions, every time Juan Cuadrado touched the ball, a score of whistles and boos echoed through the stadium. Cuadrado, who left Juventus for Inter Milan two summers ago only to win the Scudetto last season, still wears black and blue colors, only now with a different badge. There is no easy transition from Zebra to Snake to Greek Mythological figure, especially when Italians have very long memories.
### **The Stats** _**DO**_ **Lie**
Surely a club that dominated possession, completed 601 passes, and kept a relatively high passing accuracy are the better side, right?
Unfortunately not for Juventus.
Instead, Atalanta knew every single way to exploit both the incohesive Bianconeri midfield and crippled back line, while not having to worry about many attacks from Randal Kolo Muani or Dusan Vlahovic. But this was not a case of underestimating an opponent like the club did against Stuttgart in the Champions League.
Rather it was Gian Piero Gasperini and the Bergamo boys knowing that all a team needs to throw this Juventus squad off balance is a high amount of attacking pressure and to be quick on the counter. It’s not like they will be staring down a 6-foot-2 Brazilian cult-hero of a defender in the form of Bremer these days. But they may encounter a woefully out of his depth Lloyd Kelly. There is no argument that Juventus have had one of the worst injury situations in Europe this season, but that still is no excuse to allow club after club to exploit your weaknesses without trying to find a fix. Patchwork loanee defenders may work for some, but this is Juventus. Or at least it used to be.
There is an old Ajax quote that says “if you have got the ball, keep it, the other side cannot score.” With all due respect to the Dutch, their sunny, olive oil and winemaking neighbor to the southeast has been trying it all season, and to very little success.
### **Juventus Giveaway**
There is no entry or sign-up required! All that a person needs to be part of the Juventus ball giveaway is a black and blue kit, and maybe the pride of winning the Europa League last season.
As mentioned, it was not possession that plagued Juventus, rather it was giveaway after giveaway. At a point this season, right after the defensive injury crisis and before the arrival of Kolo Muani, it could be said that the best thing going for Juventus was its midfield. With the exception of Teun Koopmeiners, a collective of Khephren Thuram, Weston McKennie, and Manuel Locatelli were the saving grace of this squad. And somewhere along that road, that midfield reached a point where their game consisted of simply giving the ball right back to Atlanta.
### **Attack? Where?**
One of the biggest fan complaints at the end of Max Allegri’s tenure was that there was no attacking prowess coming from Juventus anymore. So naturally it seemed that the Motta administration would be a remedy to those complaints.
But things rarely turn out as planned.
A Juventus side that kept about ⅔ of possession could not build up any kind of cohesion in attack. Kolo Muani was kept safe in the pocket of Isak Hein while Vlahovic was tripping over his own two feet.
As for the wings, it was only slightly better, but exposed that there is a disconnect between Kenan Yildiz and the rest of the team, if not Motta himself. Some reports early on stated he was suffering from stomach issues, but something has been off with the young Turkish starboy for a while now, and Juventus can’t have that. Yildiz has been heralded as Juventus’ next generation, its hopes hinged on him becoming the face of the club. So here’s to Yildiz figuring it out and reclaiming his much deserved status.
### **Oh, Wes …**
Everyone has a bad game here and there. Champions of the sport didn’t get to where they are dwelling on it, nor should McKennie dwell on the handball penalty that opened up the scoreline. CBS panelists said it best: He’s not a seal, players can’t jump up with their arms to their sides.”
Either way, McKennie has been one of the better parts of the squad this season, and while it is an absolutely foul turn of play, the game would have belonged to Atalanta anyway, be it from a 4-0 or 3-0 scoreline. Even Motta said it was a controversial penalty, though it was not specified if he meant the ruling itself, of the potential of an Ademola Lookman handball that came from the build up.
### _**From the desk of …**_
There were two club legends in Manhattan this week. Both Andrea Pirlo and Giorgio Chiellini sat down with the Juventus Empire State club to watch this match at Legends bar. A few people were selected to go, I was not. Though I did meet Pirlo this past Saturday in Queens. We shook hands, spoke a little about Serie A in the USA, and he signed my kit. It was maybe a three minute ordeal but he was very busy this entire week. Similarly, I bought a few bottles of Sicilian wine from an event a few months ago that let me meet Andrea Barzagli, also in Queens. We spoke a bit longer.
But here is the realization from these things. The fans know quality. They know the Juventus heart. I didn’t need to meet these two to know that their blood runs black and white, rather meeting them simply confirmed it tenfold. Me, you as the reader, and the world have watched players walk through those black and white doors as nervous youths and come out legends on the other side. But the problem with the intuition of knowing when a group of players embodies “fino alla fine” is that you may also feel the absence of it. And that’s how it’s felt for a good deal of this season, they simply don’t have the heart to embody the likes of Pirlo, Chiellini, and Barzagli in years gone by. Juventus’ history is one of victory, of grit, and of never giving up. Every second on the pitch is crucial, no ball isn’t worth running after, and nothing is over until the whistle. But it seems that it’s over within the first few minutes these days.
I hope fans were not expecting a “buono” section here. Apologies if I missed any small glimpses of hope.