ROME: Substitute Alessandro Matri was the unlikely hero when he scored an extra-time winner to give Juventus a 2-1 win over Lazio in the Coppa Italia final at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday, keeping them on course for the treble.

Matri, who has changed clubs in each of the last four transfer windows and been a fringe player since returning to Juve in January, bundled the ball past Etrit Berisha in the Lazio net in the seventh minute of extra-time.

It was a record tenth Coppa title for Juventus, although their first since 1995. Having already won Serie A for a fourth successive season, Juventus will attempt to cap their season by winning the Champions League in the final against Barcelona on June 6.

“Now let’s see if we can win the third [title],” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “It was a great final. Lazio played a great match and we did well to score goals.

“Now we just have to keep our focus until June 6. The treble is a dream and a possibility, because we’ll go to Berlin having won the league and the cup, but Barcelona are in great form, just as we are. It’s a single match against the strongest team in the world.”

Inter Milan are the only Italian team to have won the treble — under Jose Mourinho in 2010.

“It’s our first cup trophy in 20 years, so it’s obviously special for us, “said Matri. “This will give us the motivation we need to go for another title.”

ROME: Juventus’ Alessandro Matri (second left) shoots to score during the Coppa Italia final against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.—AP

Juve were stunned after just four minutes when Stefan Radu rose to beat Marco Storari inside the near post with a powerful header from a free-kick by Danilo Cataldi which Andrea Pirlo failed to cut out after Paul Pogba had given away a needless foul on the right flank.

Juventus needed only seven minutes to reply, central defender Giorgio Chiellini popping up with an acrobatic volley from close range after Pirlo’s floated free kick was knocked down by Pogba and redirected by Patrice Evra.

The match finished all square after 90 minutes but Matri, back on loan at Juve after being sold to AC Milan in 2013, made the difference when Carlos Tevez’s shot rebounded at his feet in extra-time in a move set up by an incisive ball by Pirlo.

“To win you need a bit of luck and we didn’t have it,” Lazio coach Stefano Pioli said. “It was a great match between two teams that were really playing football. For a matter of only a few centimetres we weren’t able to go ahead when it mattered. ... Football — and life — is a question of centimetres.”

Lazio face city rivals AS Roma on Monday in a Serie A derby that could decide which side finishes second and gets direct entry into the Champions League. “We can win that match and I think we showed that tonight,” Pioli said.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2015

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