Juventus qualified for next season’s Champions League on a dramatic final day of Serie A.
Igor Tudor’s side secured a nervy 3-2 victory at Venezia, whose relegation was confirmed by the result, to pip Roma into fourth place by one point while Lazio, who dropped to seventh and missed out on European qualification entirely, lost at home to 10-man Lecce — who secured their place in next season’s top flight at the expense of Empoli.
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Manuel Locatelli’s 73rd-minute penalty clinched the victory for Juve to claim their place in Europe’s premier club competition at the expense of Roma, who will play in the Europa League.
Two points separated Juventus (67 points), Roma (66) and Lazio (65) going into the final round of fixtures on Sunday, with all three matches kicking off simultaneously.
To make the final day even more dramatic, two of the three teams attempting to avoid the final two relegation spots were playing the top-four chasing sides: Venezia hosted Juve and Lazio were at home to Lecce. Roma’s opponent’s Torino, starting the day in 11th, were guaranteed a mid-table finish.
Juventus had seemingly been in control of a top-four spot, having won five games in a row between early February and early March, but heavy back-to-back defeats to Atalanta and Fiorentina brought an end to Thiago Motta’s spell as head coach, with the club appointing Igor Tudor in his place.
Those defeats started a run of just four victories from nine, including a five-game winless run away from home which added pressure to Sunday’s trip to Venezia, who required a victory if they were to stand any chance of saving their top-flight status.
Roma, meanwhile, were Italy’s in-form team in the second half of the campaign, having picked up just 16 points from their opening 16 league matches.
Claudio Ranieri was appointed in November — the club’s third manager of the campaign after Daniele De Rossi and Ivan Juric — and oversaw a remarkable upturn in fortunes, including just one league defeat in their final 22 matches.
Roma required a victory at Torino coupled with Juventus not winning to leapfrog Tudor’s side, but if Roma and Juventus both slipped up, that would open the door to Lazio to overtake both into a top-four spot.
Lazio needed to win at home to Lecce, who started the day above the relegation zone on their head-to-head record with 18th-place Empoli, while also hoping that Juventus lost and Roma did not win.
Venezia fans ahead of the match (Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Juventus made the worst possible start in their trip to Venice, with Daniel Fila giving hosts Venezia a lead in the second minute.
Alberto Costa thought he had equalised in the fifth minute but the goal was ruled out by VAR for a handball, while Leandro Paredes gave Roma the lead at Torino from an 18th-minute penalty to put Ranieri’s side into a top-four spot in the live standings.
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But Juve turned their situation around as Kenan Yildiz and Randal Kolo-Muani both scored.
Lazio, meanwhile, saw their hopes appear to go up in smoke as Lassana Coulibaly gave Lecce a 43rd-minute lead in Rome, although the relegation-threatened visitors were reduced to 10 men before the break as Santiago Pierotti was shown a red card after two bookings.
Within 10 minutes of the second halves commencing, Roma once again leapfrogged Juve in the standings as Alexis Saelemaekers doubled Roma’s advantage in Turin and, crucially, Ridgeciano Haps equalised for Venezia against Juventus.
Saelemaekers helped Roma win at Torino but Ranieri’s side narrowly missed out on a top four spot (Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
However, Locatelli’s penalty 17 minutes from time clinched the win for Juve and Champions League qualification.
Empoli (who lost at home to Hellas Verona) and Venezia joined Monza in being relegated to Serie B, with Lecce safe, while Roma will play in the Europa League with Fiorentina pipping Lazio to sixth and a Conference League spot.
On Friday, Napoli clinched their second Serie A title in three seasons, finishing one point ahead of Inter.
(Top image of Juventus’ Manuel Locatelli celebrating with fans: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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