The derby tonight: Turin’s eternal run-up, but the sliding doors smile on Juventus

TURIN – It’s hard to remember the last time Juventus and Turin faced each other, in the second round, separated by just one point in the standings. Merit of the good season played so far by Juric’s team, blocked in their final leap in quality by a shortlist and some empty passes, but also and above all the fault of the fifteen-point penalty that fell on the Bianconeri’s head. It would once again, without the fifteen handicap points, be the least balanced derby in Italy, yet its history is full of twists and turns and upheavals which has often found fertile ground in the match between black and white and grenade. Mainly for the Old Lady, who hasn’t lost the derby since 2015 when Darmian and Quagliarella answered Pirlo by giving victory to Turin 20 years after the last success. Just do the calculations to understand that with one victory in 28 years, the joys have been mainly black and white.

The springboard to Europe

The 2015 derby was decidedly particular for the moment in which it arrived and for the conditions in which Juventus presented themselves at kick-off. The final in Berlin against Barcelona, ​​the last act of the Champions League path, hovered in the head of Allegri’s team: the owners Pirlo, Bonucci, Vidal and Morata but also second lines took to the field. At the center of defence, just as happened this year in the first leg and will happen in the second leg, there was a former grenade who passed to the other side of the “barricade”: eight years ago Ogbonna, today it’s Bremer’s turn. In the final of the derby in April 2015, Pirlo hit the crossbar from a free-kick, nullifying the shot of a possible draw: just a few months earlier, at the Allianz Stadium, the director scored the 2-1 goal with practically expired time with a great shot from outside area. Yet the most significant derby, that of the turning point in the season, arrived a few months later: Juventus had just returned from the defeat of Reggio Emilia with Sassuolo, Allegri’s bench was in danger and the senators tried to compact the locker room. The bianconeri were far from the top, returning from the knockout in the Champions League final: Pogba’s goal after twenty minutes seemed to pave the way for a rebirth. Bovo’s equalizer froze the Stadium, but in the final it was Cuadrado’s turn in the 93rd minute, the same minute as Pirlo’s goal a year earlier, to give Juventus the win, effectively starting the great comeback that culminated in winning the Scudetto: the second for Allegri, the fifth in a row.

Grenade companies

If the present and the recent past are tinged with black and white, Turin too has had its satisfaction in the derbies. The first that comes to mind is naturally that of 1983, with the famous “three minutes and forty seconds of tremendism” in the grenade: down 2-0 in the 70th minute, thanks to goals from Paolo Rossi and Platini, Torino came back by closing the gap with Dossena, equalizing with Bonesso and finishing with a goal from Fortunato Torrisi, writing the script for one of the most unforgettable derbies in Italian football. A year later it was once again the grenade’s turn to remember the derby with the smile of the winners: it was again Platini who unlocked the game, before Francini’s draw. In the final, Serena took care of hitting the ball with his head which hit the Juventus goal: second place in the standings for Toro, the winning goal for Serena who was signed by Juventus the following year, perhaps also for that goal. The 1992 derby was also the turning point, but not so much for football issues: it was election day and the president of Turin, Borsano, was busy on two fronts. Candidate with the PSI on one side, involved in the derby on the other: the Brazilian Casagrande took care of it with a brace to give the victory to Toro. The legend, whose foundations are based on reality, tells that the ecstatic fans, as they left the stadium, went to the polls, giving Borsano the second joy of an unforgettable day for him and for the team.

Never winning bull at Allianz, Juve and derby momentum

Since Juventus played at the Allianz Stadium, Turin has never managed to come back with three points from the shortest away match in the championship. He came close to it twice, first in 2017, when Higuain answered Ljajic’s free-kick in full recovery, and in 2019, when Lukic gave Torino the lead before Ronaldo equalised, who set off very high past debutant Bremer. Once again this year, however, the first leg derby was a turning point for Juventus: fresh from the knockout against Monza, from the success against Bologna but also from the very heavy losses against Milan and Maccabi Haifa, Allegri’s team won the derby 1-0 thanks to a goal by Vlahovic, thus starting the streak of eight consecutive victories without conceding a goal. The derby as a springboard for the black and whites but also for the players: against Juventus Bremer made his debut as a starter in the granata shirt, only being overtaken in the final by an imperious gap from Ronaldo, while last season the winning goal in the derby was the consecration of Locatelli with the shirt he has always dreamed of. Everything was born and restarted in the matches against Turin: that’s what Pogba and the Juventus fans are also hoping for.