Juventus and Bologna wrapped up their Serie A campaigns with a meaningless match featuring the champions-elect and the side in 15th. For a match with absolutely nothing riding on it, this game still had its moments.
The first was provided by Bologna midfielder Saphir Taider. The Algerian international opened the scoring in the 52nd minute with this sensational effort from distance.
Leonardo Bonucci is a champion of Italy once again, but one member of his family isn't so thrilled: his son. Apparently one of Bonucci's boys is a fan of Juvenus's crosstown rival, Torino.
With a victory against Genoa next Sunday, second place AS Roma will eclipse their highest-ever point total in Serie A with 87. However, Juventus’ 3-0 victory over Crotone today gave them 88 points on the season heading into the final match day, confirming them as Serie A champions for the sixth straight season. They’re simply untouchable in Italy.
Juventus got back to winning ways, cruising past Lazio to earn their third consecutive Coppa Italia. The Old Lady are now the only team in Italy to achieve this feat.
Dani Alves is in the midst of one of the best seasons in his career, and he opened the scoring in the 12th minute off a beautifully orchestrated goalzo. Alves has constantly displayed how versatile he is throughout the pitch, and he's now scoring goals as if he were playing a number 9 role.
You've got to hand it to AS Roma's Stephan El Shaarawy. We've never seen a shot make Gianluigi Buffon look all of 39 years of age, but he accomplished it with this absurd effort in Roma's 3-1 victory over Juventus on Sunday. The goal ended up being the match-winner and kept Roma's fading title hopes alive. El Shaarawy has been in fantastic form for his side after scoring a great goal against AC Milan last weekend.
The shameful specter of racist abuse in Italian football reappeared on May 6 after Torino’s match against Juventus. Not a week after the footballing authorities abandoned their duty of care regarding Sulley Muntari, Medhi Benatia noticed racist comments being made in his ear by a technician during a live, on-air interview following the 1-1 draw. Stopping abruptly, he demanded to know who had referred to him as a “Moroccan piece of sh*t”.
Gigi Buffon is a legend. At 39 he sports a six-matche shutout streak in the Champions League, and he’s on the verge of returning to the UCL final for the third time.
A Champions League title has eluded him to this point, but Buffon has won just about everything else:
UEFA Cup (Europa): 1999
Supercoppa Italiana (6 times)
Coppa Italia (2015 and 2016)
World Cup (2006)
Golden Foot Award (2016, only GK to win)
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year (2003)
The semifinals of the Champions League returned to Monaco’s Stade Louis II for the first time since 2004, and the 18,000+ in attendance would’ve surely expected their side to add to the 16 home Champions League goals they’d already witnessed since the beginning of their campaign.
But a Juventus side that had only given up two goals in this competition, and none throughout the knockout rounds, proved to be an entirely different challenge for Monaco’s goal-crazy attackers.