Juventus – AC Milan: Old Lady’s Season Laid To Rest (0-1)

A nervous energy was close to home for a pair of teams that longed to forget the woes of the previous few months with the guarantee of a place in the Champions League. However, that tension gave way to exhaustion rather than exhilaration. Neither put on a firework display, so the man in the mood for goals exploded into life and took it upon himself to settle the score.

Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.

Napoli remain far away at the top of Serie A, but the race for European football still excites upon its entry to the final furlong. This fixture brought together two of the teams central to this narrative.

The turn of the new year marked the point when AC Milan could no longer remain at the pace the champions set. Their title defense and season threatened to sour, but Stefano Pioli hauled his troops off the ground to turn around their abysmal form. They knocked out the new Scudetto holders in the last eight of the Champions League and then bowed out in a continental edition of Derby della Madonnina . . .