Juventus 2 Lazio 0: Mandzukic and Dybala seal Supercoppa triumph

Juventus were supreme once again in the Serie A last season, grabbing the title in comfortable fashion but several key players have left the club in the current transfer window. Undoubtedly, however, the defeat which hurt the most came in last May’s Italian Cup Final at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

Juve’s new-look strikeforce offered Massimiliano Allegri a glimpse of what he can expect in the post-Carlos Tevez era by finding the net in quick succession midway through the second half of a drab curtain-raiser to the Italian season.

“There’s a bad atmosphere around Juve”, Allegri said after last week’s 2-1 win against Lechia Gdansk. “What we did last year counts for nothing”. Alvaro Morata will partner up with Paulo Dybala up front with Mario Mandzukic and Simone Zaza also possibility to play.

With a month of pre-season training under his belt, compared to Juve’s two weeks, Marchetti told Lazio Style Radio: “We’re ready for this – it is not impossible to beat Juventus and we saw that in the Coppa Italia final”.

The Bianconeri are chasing a fifth straight Scudetto for the first time since the 1930s.

Despite Juventus’ problems, Lazio midfielder Danilo Cataldi does not feel it makes the size of the task any smaller for him and his teammates.

The longer Lazio can keep this one scoreless, the better chance they’ll have of lifting the Supercoppa Italiana trophy; however should Juve break the deadlock, one can only help but feel that they will go onto control the game.

“However, in Italy we start as favourites, although the others have strengthened – Inter, Milan, and especially Roma, who for years have been the main competition”.