Milan-Juve clash over unbeaten record
Did Milan end Juventus’ unbeaten record this season on Tuesday night? The two Italian giants, perhaps inevitably, disagree.
The Rossoneri ‘defeated’ the Old Lady 2-1 after 90 minutes in the Coppa Italia, but as the tie was level at 3-3 on aggregate, extra time was needed.
Mirko Vucinic subsequently netted a beauty for La Signora to make it 2-2 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate which saw Juve reach the Final.
La Gazzetta dello Sport thus classed the game as a draw which suggests Juve are still unbeaten this season, something which Milan Vice-President Adriano Galliani has disputed.
The former Lega Calcio chief actually wrote a letter to the Gazzetta insisting that Juve did pick up their first loss of the campaign.
“If you take into account the regulation 90 minutes then Juventus were beaten,” Galliani said. “This is a conclusion from article seven of the Italian football rulebook.
“That states that a game is played over two 45 minute periods unless a different time period is agreed by mutual agreement between the referee and the two teams.
“This was not the case and the addition of extra time was derived by the rules of the competition. As a result, Juventus did not maintain their unbeaten record.”
Juventus disagree and director general Beppe Marotta insists that the 30 extra minutes were part of the same game.
“It seems to me that the Gazzetta have explained what counts on a statistical level,” the former Sampdoria official noted.
“When games go into extra time, they count the result at the end of 120 minutes and not the 90. To be honest, that seems only logical.
“After Maxi Lopez made it 2-1, we were not out and we knew that we could count on another 30 minutes of play.
“In the League you would put the ball in the middle and attack furiously straight away, but that wasn’t the case in this game.
“You handle things in a much more relaxed manner because you know that you have more time.”
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