Thursday evening, Juventus won in style against promoted Frosinone in the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup (4-0). A big victory allowing Massimiliano Allegri’s flock to enter the last four of this national tournament, where they will face Lazio in two rounds during the month of April. One man was greatly decisive in this success at the Allianz Stadium: Arkadiusz Milik (29 years old). Established alongside the Turkish nugget Kenan Yıldız, the Polish striker scored a hat-trick against the Giallazzurri (11th, 38th, 48th), and was not far from a quadruple ultimately refused but his illicit position forced the referee, well helped by the VAR, to take away his super hattrick, which could have been the first of his career.
A performance on the big nights which contrasts with his sporting situation with the Bianconeri: in his 20 matches played in all competitions, the former Olympique de Marseille scorer was only present in the starting eleven on five occasions, often beaten by Dusan Vlahovic or even Moise Kean, tracked by Stade Rennais. But the shortage experienced by the 29-year-old player does not worry his coach, Massimiliano Allegri, confident about the revival of his protégé for the rest of the season: “strikers are like that, you don’t score for a while then you score three. But Milik always played good matches.”
“I don’t feel like a replacement…”
Questioned in turn after the meeting, Arek Milik admits to not enjoying his role as Juve’s luxury joker, but respects the choices of his technician. “Obviously I don’t feel like a substitute, I haven’t started many times, but in my head there is always the team that helps me, obviously in the end it’s the coach who chooses who plays. I try to help with the goals, with the games. Happy with the victory, it was a goal to achieve. What if I play? It’s the coach who decides. It depends on the matches, tonight we had more space and chances to score. In the league it depends on the team and the matches, but often in the last 30 minutes we help the midfielders to defend, but today it was the opposite, but that’s football.”
The Italian press was a little less measured following Arek Milik’s hat-trick in the Coppa Italia. Its XXL performance thus confirms the offensive awakening of the Piedmontese team for several months, with a series of 16 matches without the slightest defeat in all competitions, including 5 consecutive successes between Serie A and the Cup. More than criticized for several months, Allegri has been able to breathe new life into a squad supported by several young prospects (Miretti, Cambiaso, Yıldız, etc.). By bringing his experience into the locker room, Milik must count on the year 2024 to relaunch his season in Turin and regain the statistics he achieved at Napoli…
