Change in the air as Inter leave Juve empty-handed in spiky cup final

TOPSHOT - Inter Milan's Argentine forward Lautaro Martinez kisses the winner's trophy after Inter won the Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) final football match between Juventus. (Photo by ISABELLA BONOTTO/AFP via Getty Images)

By the end of the night at the Stadio Olimpico, we had seen it all: six goals, two penalties, a red card given and another that probably should. A cup final edition of the Derby d’Italia, played out over 120 messy but captivating minutes and followed up with immediate breaking news. Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus’s captain, announced he was leaving the club. Ivan Perisic, the match-winner for Internazionale, suggested he could soon be moving on too.

The stakes had been clear before kick-off. For Juventus this was a last chance to salvage a disappointing season. The rehiring of Massimiliano Allegri as manager last summer was supposed to represent a return to the club’s core ethos, the famous Giampiero Boniperti line that “winning isn’t important, it’s the only thing that counts”. Instead they were in danger of finishing without any trophies for the first time in 11 years.