Juventus 2 - Monza 0: Initial reaction and random observations

The last four months have not been easy for Juventus players, coaches and supporters alike. The results have been disappointing at best and downright anger-inducing at its most constant, with the club that has the biggest payroll in Italy playing like a team that could be sent to Serie B if their form was extended for a full season.

For their final 17 games of the 2023-24 season, Juve collected the amount of a provincial side. It made you wonder when things were ever going to end and turn for the better, only for nothing to improve outside of their Coppa Italia final win against Atalanta a week and a half ago.

Well, my friends, I have some good news for you: The season is now officially over.

And, in a change for the better: This Juve side, managed by their club legend turned caretaker manager, was actually applauded as they walked off the Allianz Stadium field at halftime rather than what we had heard so many times before that these past four months.

Two goals in two minutes from Federico Chiesa and Alex Sandro (!!) midway through the first half did the trick, as for the first time since early April we can say the following sentence: Juventus won a game in Serie A. The 2-0 win over Monza ended a streak of six straight league draws for Juve, with Paolo Montero getting his first win as a manager in Serie A before he presumably hands over the reins to Thiago Motta in what feels like a very short amount of time.

A win on the final day of the season in a game without much of anything riding doesn’t even come close to erasing what has transpired over the last few weeks and months. The obituary on this season was basically written weeks ago, with this team dropping so many points in such quick fashion that it truly left you wonder how much further they had to fall. Instead of qualifying for the Champions League with plenty of time to spare, their second-half struggles meant that they essentially had to rely on others to wrap up a spot back in Europe’s top club competition with a couple of games to go.

And with this win, Juventus takes over third place all for themselves as we wait for Atalanta to play out the rest of their schedule to see just where they will finish (and how many teams Serie A will get into Europe).

For a team that entered their season finale with an incredible six straight draws in a row, getting a win to close things up had to feel good. The stakes were low, but it certainly wasn’t the same team we saw for much of Monday night’s wild draw with Bologna. Juventus actually played well in the first half, got their goals from Chiesa and Sandro in quick succession and then just saw the rest of the game out.

You know, that’s the kind of scenario that you would have liked to see more of from this team over the last four months. But it proved to be anything like that in reality.

At least they finished the season on a win. You know, that thing where you score more goals on than your opponent. You’d be forgiven if you kinda forgot what went into it over the last 17 games. So, thanks to you, Juventus, for the reminder that winning is possible.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS Oh, sure now you guys win a damn game. There goes the storybook ending of Rafa Palladino beating Juventus in his first game and (likely) last game as Monza manager. Sorry, Rafa. Something tells me he’ll be fine, though. (And I’m not talking about his looks because he’ll always be foine on that front.) Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi can officiate Juventus whenever she wants. She’s good — and that’s something that we can’t say about much of her male counterparts. Alex Sandro playing his best game in months in his final Juventus game just felt good. The vibes were good overall, but the vibes around Sandro — which have been very, very bad the last couple of years — were back to being good and that was enjoyable. Sandro, who was clearly emotional as he walked off the field for the final time, very much deserved the reception he got from the fans. This is a guy who now shares a record at Juve with Pavel Nedved — which is never a bad thing to boast about. He’s always been a loyal servant to the club, and you gotta remember that even with his struggles the last few years he was so damn good during the prime of his career. Few players in this day and age spend a decade at one club, but Sandro was just one year off that, so bravo to him for everything that he accomplished during his nine seasons in Turin. Sandro making his 327th and final Juventus appearance and being subbed out for Tiago Djaló to make his long-awaited club debut just had some nice symmetry to it. The tweet you wait to see posted during every Juventus season finale: And make no mistake about it, Carlo Pinsoglio pulled off a couple of really good saves and got himself one half of Juve’s first clean sheet since early April. How about that? You forget because they rarely play, but third-choice keepers are usually pretty good, too! Speaking of goalkeepers, Michele Di Gregorio had a very emotional interaction with the traveling Monza fans after the final whistle sounded. If that’s not a clue that he’s getting ready to sign with Juventus, I don’t know what is. (It was very heartfelt and very sweet to see, especially when you consider it’s taking place at the stadium he will call home next season.) Sometimes you hear the name Valentín Carboni and your mind goes to a nice carbonara and now I’m hungry. Please allow for the delay in publishing this post because of all that. Boy, did this team miss Nicolo Fagioli. I know it’s a small sample size since he’s come back from suspension, but if his performance against Monza tells you anything is that not playing in a game for seven months hasn’t really impacted his impact on a game as much as we thought it might. Federico Chiesa could have scored a hat trick in this game. The one goal he did score was pretty damn nice. Two goals in two games for Chiesa since Max Allegri was fired. I’m not sayin’, but I’m just sayin’. Carlos Alcaraz did some things well in this game. He did other things not so well. I feel like this kinda sums of Charly’s loan spell at Juventus. That’s probably a good reason why he might not be back on loan at Juventus again next season. Definitely not worthy of that massive buy clause, but you probably already knew that. Chiesa is fun to watch. So is Kenan Yildiz. I like when those two guys are on the field together. Do that next season, Thiago. And with that, the season is over. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was a second half of the season that left many wanting the season to end a couple of months earlier than it actually did. But, with a summer that should see Juve actually do things on the transfer market and a new manager set to be hired, there won’t be a lack of things to talk about around here. Let’s hope it’s mostly good things, too.