MILAN (Reuters) – Alessandro Del Piero, almost certainly
playing his last home game for Juventus at the age of 37, celebrated with a goal as the Serie A
champions beat Atalanta 3-1 on Sunday to finish their campaign unbeaten.
celebrates with his teammate Simone Padoin after scoring against Atalanta during their Serie A match,
May 13, 2012. REUTERS/Giorgio Perottino
Udinese
clinched a place in the playoff round of next season’s Champions League qualifying tournament by
winning 2-0 at Catania to finish third, leaving Lazio, Napoli and Inter Milan to contemplate the Europa
League.
Antonio Di Natale, included in Italy’s provisional squad for Euro 2012, opened the
scoring for Udinese with his 23rd league goal of the season.
The 38-year-old Filippo Inzaghi,
playing his last league game for runners-up AC Milan after 11 seasons, scored the winner in a 2-1
victory over relegated Novara.
Juventus became only the second team to win Serie A without
losing a game after Fabio Capello’s AC Milan in 1991-92 and the first to achieve the feat in a
38-match season.
Del Piero curled the ball in from the edge of the penalty area in the 28th
minute after Luca Marrone had fired the opener for Juve who clinched the title last week.
An own
goal by Stephan Lichtsteiner put a slight dampener on Juve’s celebrations in the 83rd minute before
defender Andrea Barzagli converted a stoppage-time penalty.
Barzagli had come on just one minute
earlier following an injury to Giorgio Chiellini and became the 20th Juventus player to score a league
goal this season.
“We’ve had a fantastic championship season, crowning it with the Scudetto and
a record which will go down in history,” said Juventus coach Antonio Conte. “Others can only try and
equal our feat.”
Club president Andrea Agnelli said last year that Del Piero’s contract would
not be renewed when it expires at the end of the season and seems unlikely to backtrack.
Del
Piero, used sparingly by coach Antonio Conte, could still feature in one more match for Juventus when
they play Napoli in the Italian Cup final on May 20.
“We all felt emotional. Alex is a great
champion and will be forever remembered as an indelible part of Juve’s history,” added Conte. “I’m
moved for him and honouring everything with the Scudetto is extraordinary.”
GATTUSO’S
TEARS
Milan, where midfielder Gennaro Gattuso and defender Alessandro Nesta were also playing
their last home games after announcing they would leave the club, fell behind to a Santiago Garcia goal
in the 20th minute.
Midfielder Mathieu Flamini equalised in the 56th minute before Inzaghi, who
came on midway through the second half, grabbed the winner in the 82nd minute, firing in a half-volley
from Clarence Seedorf’s pass.
Tough-tackling Gattuso left the San Siro pitch in tears as he
ended 13 seasons at the club.
Juventus finished with 84 points, four ahead of Milan, with the
two teams taking Italy’s places in the group stage of the Champions League next
season.
Udinese, who had needed a draw to clinch third place, left nothing to chance with a win
in Sicily.
Antonio Di Natale and Diego Fabbrini scored in each half for Udinese, who lost to
Arsenal over two legs in last season’s Champions League playoff round, while Alejandro Gomez missed a
penalty for Catania before halftime.
Italy has lost a place in the competition after Serie A
slipped below Germany’s Bundesliga in UEFA’s ranking of national leagues.
Lazio took fourth
place despite going behind to Inter when Diego Milito scored from a penalty, the Argentine’s 24th
Serie A goal of the season, on the stroke of halftime.
Libor Kozak headed Lazio level in the
58th minute and Senad Lulic tricked his way past Maicon on the left and pulled the ball back for
Antonio Candreva to score from the edge of the penalty area.
Stefano Mauri added the third in
stoppage time to hand Inter their second defeat in nine matches under Andrea Stramaccioni, their third
coach of the season after Gian Piero Gasperini and Claudio Ranieri.
Andrea Dossena scored both
goals as Napoli finished fifth with a 2-1 win over Siena while Inter scraped into the Europa League
qualifying competition in sixth.
Luis Enrique, who announced on Friday that he would be quitting
AS Roma at the end of the season, bowed out with a 3-2 win at relegated Cesena.
Daniele De Rossi
scored the goal that turned out to be the winner early in the second half.
Parma beat Bologna
1-0 for a club record seventh successive win to finish with 56 points.
Lecce joined already
relegated Novara and Cesena in Serie B next season after losing 1-0 at Chievo.
