Two goals, and a month of uncertainty starts to fade
Eighth place. A draw, then a 3-2 loss at Sassuolo. That was Juventus a week ago, and nobody in Turin was pretending otherwise.
Sunday brought something closer to relief: a 2-0 win over Atalanta that reads cleaner than it played. This was a scrap between two sides still hunting for their rhythm. La Dea arrived 11th and on the back of consecutive defeats, so neither team walked out with much swagger. What had changed for the hosts was midweek, when a 5-0 dismantling of NEC Nijmegen in the Europa League reminded the squad what it looks like when things click.
That carried over just before the half-hour. Zeki Celik did the hard running down the right and squared it for Francisco Conceicao, who finished in the 28th minute. Edon Zhegrova found Gleison Bremer after the break to settle it.
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Sixth, and three points off the top in September
Three points move Juventus up to sixth, within three of the leaders. Sit with that for a second. A club that won nine consecutive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2020 is currently fighting to stay in touch with the pace-setters in mid-September.
It says plenty about the league. Serie A is tighter than it has been in years, and Juve get no default edge anymore. Every win gets earned, including at home against an Atalanta side already in trouble.
Atalanta sink deeper
Bergamo’s picture is uglier. Three losses on the spin, 11th place confirmed, and an attack that could not lay a glove on a Juventus back line nobody would call watertight this season.
La Dea made their name on energy and intensity. Sunday gave them neither. Whether that is fixture congestion or something that runs deeper, the next fortnight will say.
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