THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
chapter-562

Juventus' following fixture was the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final game against Fiorentina. The match kick-off was at 8:45 PM, on Tuesday, 7th April, just three days after Juventus' game against Empoli.

During the first leg of the Coppa Italia semis held in Turin, Juventus defeated the team from Florence by a score of 3:0, with Zachary scoring a hattrick. As of now, they would again play another leg of the semis at Fiorentina's home ground to decide which one of the two teams would qualify for the 2015 Coppa Italia finals.

In the case of Juventus, there wasn't much pressure associated with that very game due to their three-goal advantage from the first leg. As such, Coach Massimo Allegri decided to rest some of his players in preparation for the upcoming busy schedule that included a season-deciding Serie A away fixture against Parma the following Saturday and the vital UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid the Tuesday after.

On Coach Allegri's squad for the day was Marco Storari as the keeper and a defense set-up that included Paolo De Ceglie, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, and Simone Padoin. In the midfield were the four players - Stefano Sturaro, Claudio Marchisio, Arturo Vidal, and Roberto Pereyra, while on striking were the two forwards - Alessandro Matri and Álvaro Morata. The coach's game plan was for these players to array themselves into a 4-3-1-2 formation so as to handle Fiorentina's progressive wing play and abrupt long balls.

The squad was obviously not Juventus' strongest, as the coach had left key players like Gianluigi Buffon, Zachary Bemba, Andrea Pirlo, Patrice Evra, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Fernando Llorente, and Carlos Tevez on the bench. But even then, even with all the big names missing from the starting line-up, Juventus still showed why they were the footballing giants of Italy immediately after the game started.

Juventus played a good passing game of slow build-ups and sudden quick transitions into the final third from the first minute. The men from Turin then focused on penetrating through the ranks of Fiorentina until they eventually scored the first goal through Alessandro Matri during the 22nd minute.

However, that was not the end of Fiorentina's misery, as Juventus didn't let up the pressure after scoring. The Turin-based team continued creating chances and building up more momentum. Eventually, a perfect finish from Roberto Pereyra just before halftime and a header from Leonardo Bonucci during the 59th minute sealed the deal, thus ensuring that Juventus won the game by a score of 3:0 after four minutes of added time.

Juventus had played the perfect possession game that day, and not even the future footballing stars like Mohamed Salah and Marcos Alonso in Fiorentina's line-up could prevent the result. And accordingly, the win decided Juventus' fate as the team that would face off against Lazio in that year's Coppa Italia finals.

Four days later, on Saturday, 11th April, Juventus returned their focus to Serie A action. They traveled to the Emilia-Romagna region and faced off against Parma in the very-packed Ennio Tardini Stadium.

That game was a crucial season decider for Juventus, as they needed only one more point from the match to win the league and become the 2014/15 Serie A champions. But even then, Coach Allegri didn't field some of his crucial players since he still had his eyes on the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid the following Tuesday.

Coach Allegri only made a few changes to the squad that faced Fiorentina. He replaced Leonardo Bonucci, the first-choice center-back, with Angelo Ogbonna. He also changed the striking line and replaced Álvaro Morata and Alessandro Matri, the two forwards, with Fernando Llorente and Kingsley Coman. As for the rest of the squad, it remained the same as the line-up that played the midweek Coppa Italia semis.

The match against Parma was the perfect definition of a season decider. Fans of both teams were already yelling like mad and causing tremors around the stadium with the thumping of their feet as the referee blew the whistle.

In the meantime, the match had commenced on the pitch. The Juventus players went all out and relied on their routine slow build-ups and abrupt defense-splitting passes to dominate proceedings during the early game stages. They played confidently and pushed all the Parma players into their half of the pitch as the proceedings progressed.

But as we all know; it just takes a single error for the game situation to turn for the worse. This was the case during the match that day as a mistake in distribution by Stefano Sturaro at the border of the defensive third during the 14th-minute saw team Juventus present the perfect goal-scoring chance to Parma on a silver platter.

Ishak Belfodil, the Parma striker, immediately pounced on the loose ball like the wind before Juventus' defense could react. He controlled it well and passed it back to José Mauri, Parma's midfielder, thus setting his teammate up for the perfect chance to unleash a shot toward the goal.

José Mauri, on his part, didn't disappoint. He met the ball with a first-time swing, sending it toward the top right corner. He effortlessly beat the keeper with his thunderous effort and thus scored the 1st goal for the home team during the 15th minute.

The score was then 1:0 in favor of Parma. The Juventus fans who had traveled all the way to Parma started turning anxious and edgy, clearly feeling the heat of the match. They were not even shy to verbally express their doubts over Coach Allegri's decision to rest some key players.

"I just wonder why Coach Allegri left Zachary, Andrea Pirlo, and Tevez on the bench," one Juventus fan grumbled. "Those three didn't play the semi-final against Fiorentina during midweek! Why is he resting them again? Could they be unfit?"

"I don't think so," another fan sporting a striped black and white Juventus jersey replied. "According to the news, all three have been training with the first team over the past week. I think Massimo Allegri is simply resting them in preparation for our match against Real Madrid on Tuesday."

"I don't like this," the first fan said. "Why can't we first focus on winning the Serie A before worrying about the Champions League? Because of resting the players, we might lose against Parma when we're close to winning the title."

"Patience, my friend," the other fan said. "It's just twenty minutes into the game. We only need to score a goal during the remaining 70 minutes, and this year's Serie A title will be ours. Moreover, should the game situation fail to change by the 70th minute, Coach Allegri will surely bring on the big guns like Zachary. That's why I'm not so worried about this game."

In the meantime, Zachary was also following the game from the bench. He watched expressionlessly as his teammates tried to outwit the tenacious Parma side on the playing field. However, on the inside, he was feeling a bit worried.

In football, momentum remained a very crucial factor needed to win matches. For instance, if Juventus beat Parma and won the Serie A title that weekend, they would head into Tuesday's Champions League fixture against Real Madrid with boundless confidence. They would then rely on that morale and impetus built after winning the league to perform at their best against the team from Madrid and possibly defeat them.

The opposite was also true, and if Juventus failed to beat Parma, they might head into the fixture with low spirits. As such, some players who relied on confidence would find it difficult to perform at their best. This factor would then affect the overall team's performance and possibly lead to defeat.

The worry within Zachary continued growing as he followed the proceedings on the pitch. A frown suddenly outlined his face since he couldn't understand what some of his teammates were doing on the playing field.

For instance, Kingsley Coman, Juventus' striker for the day, had just made an abrupt and well-timed run behind the defensive line. However, Roberto Pereyra, Juventus' attacking midfielder, who had the ball at that juncture, didn't send a through-ball forward. Pereyra instead chose to pass it backward to Claudio Marchisio, thus wasting Kingsley's efforts.

Six minutes later, during the 34th minute, another vexing incident occurred. Arturo Vidal received the ball close to the center line, but he took too many unnecessary touches that allowed the Parma midfielders to rob possession from him. What followed was a lightning-fast counterattack that caught Juventus' defense napping.

Fortunately, Marco Storari, the Juventus keeper for the night, was at the top of his game. He made a fingertip diving save and pushed the final rocket of a ball from the Parma striker over the bar. And with that, he managed to keep Juventus' hope of a comeback alive by keeping the score 1:0.

"This game is becoming difficult for us," Patrice Evra, the Frenchman sitting beside Zachary on the bench, commented. "Both Vidal and Pereyra are taking too long on the ball. They have invited trouble repeatedly by allowing the Parma midfielders to close them down. Moreover, they haven't made many forward passes during today's game."

Zachary nodded. "Yes! Their midfield play has been below-par, especially over the past ten minutes. They have also wasted a few good runs made by Llorente and Coman behind the defense. Coach Allegri will surely grill them at halftime."

Evra sighed. "Our carelessness is allowing the Parma players to grow in confidence as the game progresses. Their pass completion and possession statistics have all improved over the past few minutes. We'll surely find it hard to win this game if we don't score soon."

Zachary nodded but chose not to reply. Just then, he noticed Maurizio Trombetta, the assistant coach, exchanging a few words with Coach Allegri. The assistant then nodded and immediately approached the bench with a solemn expression.

"Zachary, Pirlo, and Tevez!" He called out three names. "Start warming up immediately. The coach wants you to enter the pitch at the beginning of the second half."

"Yes, coach," The three players, including Zachary, replied, one after another. They then donned their bibbs and headed to the touchline area, ready to warm up.