Miranchuk is one step away from his first trophy in Italy. But it’s important for him to prove himself before the Cup final

Atalanta will play in the decisive match against Juventus.

Having beaten Fiorentina in the return match of the Italian Cup (4:1), Atalanta reached the final, where they will play Juventus on May 15 in Rome.

Having reached the decisive stage, both teams secured participation in the Italian Super Cup. Four clubs will take part in it. The national champion Inter will play in one semi-final with the Cup finalist, and the second team at the end of the 2023/24 championship (apparently Milan) will play in the other semi-final with the Cup winner. But that will be next winter, but for now let’s return to spring matters.

In the final of the Italian Cup, we will see a remake of the 2021 confrontation in the same tournament. Then the Turin team, with Andrea Pirlo at the helm, won with a score of 2:1. For the Bergamasques, under the leadership of Gian Piero Gasperini, this was the second lost final in recent history – after the defeat by Lazio in 2019.

When Atalanta won their only Coppa Italia (in 1963), Gasperini was only five years old. Since that time, the club has not taken any more titles in Italy. Of course, Gasperini, who has no trophies, dreams of winning the Cup at least at the third attempt.

In the 2021 final, Alexey Miranchuk appeared on the field in the 82nd minute. Now he has a chance to play longer. The fact is that Atalanta’s starting lineup players Scamacca and Ederson will miss the match against Juventus due to disqualification, which means that Gasperini will definitely have to seriously take into account the clip from the rotation, which includes our Alexey.

The winter enthusiasm for Miranchuk’s performance in the starting lineup melted this April, like last year’s snow, and Alexey returned to his usual role as a reserve, which he unsuccessfully exchanged for a place in the starting lineup only in the return game against Liverpool. Unfortunately, Miranchuk did not make a mark either in his club’s historic reach to the semi-finals of the Europa League or in the semi-finals of the Italian Cup, and, according to local media, he turned out to be one of the least useful players in the ranks of Atalanta.

But the Bergamasques’ busy May schedule and the disqualification of the two players mentioned above may once again give Alexey a chance to express himself. Who the hell isn’t kidding: he’s already scored against Juventus once, why not try again?

However, before the meeting with Juventus, Atalanta still has to play five more matches – three in Serie A (against Empoli, Salernitana and Roma) and two Europa League semi-finals against Marseille. Miranchuk will likely get playing time during this busy part of the season. And how he uses it will largely determine his future in Bergamo.