Italy the Cup

The Cup final opposed Juventus to Verona – normally, such a final would not bring any questions about the outcome. But not this year – Juventus was shaky and Verona was rising. The clash mirrored the current state of both clubs – Verona won the opening leg 2-0. In the second match Juventus won in front of home crowd 2-0. Home support and classier squad eventually prevailed in the overtime – Juventus scored one more goal and triumphed.

No doubt about it – Verona had its best season in their history so far. Up and coming team, for sure. Lacking experience, but that was understandable – Verona was even a fairly regular member of first division, they were quite the newcomer. And because of that they were a bit overlooked – wonderful season, yes, but most likely not to be repeated. Just enjoy and remember when you were almost equal to Juventus. That was proved wrong soon enough, but something of the initial predictions for quick end of Verona remained and lingered until 21st century: the name. Verona was just Verona… until their neighbors Chievo Verona reached first division and suddenly was revealed that this club here is named Hellas Verona. Who would know of care in 1983?

Juventus won the Cup, which was just fine – there were problems this season and even prevailing over practically anonymous Verona was difficult, but this victory was very important, for confidence was restored. Giovanni Trapattoni was no full and certainly saw the problems – the team was formidable on paper. In reality, Zoff and Bettega were at the very end of their careers. Platini and Boniek had to adapt and adjust and it was not easy, because they had similarities in their football on one hand, on the other Paolo Rossi and Bettega had to change as well, and the team as whole had to orient itself toward Platini and not Rossi and Bettega. One thing bringing strong confidence to Trapattoni was the club itself – Juventus was going to get worthy new replacements of the key veterans, money was not an issue. To a point, not this season, but the next one was really important – and if so, the next season practically started with the winning of the Cup.