THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MILAN, Italy — Alessandro del Piero scored in his last league appearance for Juventus as the newly crowned Serie A champion defeated Atalanta 3-1 on Sunday to become only the second Italian side to win the title by going the whole season unbeaten.
Del Piero signed off in style in front of the home fans as he doubled Juventus’ lead in the 28th minute to cap a near 20-year career with the club.
"I had tears in my eyes several times," said Del Piero, who has yet to decide where he will play next season. "Everything was very moving, the bond with people goes above everything and I will always carry that with pride. I am happy and proud of all this.
"In certain aspects it is an incredibly beautiful day, there’s a bit of sadness but it’s right that way. I celebrated with the fans, with my teammates, doing what I like most, that’s winning."
It was also emotional at San Siro as AC Milan bid farewell to club stalwarts Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso and Filippo Inzaghi as well as Mark van Bommel.
Inzaghi scored to help Milan beat Novara 2-1. However, it was of little importance as Juventus was four points clear heading into the final game of the season and claimed its 28th league title last weekend after beating Cagliari 2-0 while AC Milan lost 4-2 to Inter Milan.
"I don’t know what to think," Inzaghi said. "When I was injured at Turin, I thought I wouldn’t play again, then today I played my 300th game, in front of my fans and scored a goal in my trademark style. Everything still hasn’t sunk in … maybe the fact that others are leaving saved me because otherwise I don’t know how I would have reacted if I was on my own.
"I hope that there are other champions that play with their hearts like us because these are great men and it’s not so easy to find people like them. This year I always said that this a really great group, the best thing was my teammates, I have the shivers."
The city of Turin was in party mood with hundreds of thousands of fans gathered in the streets as Juventus celebrated its first title in nine years. Around 5,000 fans welcomed the team bus as it arrived at Juventus Stadium, decorated with three stars as the club still counts the two titles it was stripped of following the 2006 match-fixing scandal.
Antonio Conte’s team became only the third side ever to go the entire season without losing a game. Milan also won the title unbeaten in 1992. Perugia went the entire 1978-79 season without losing a game but didn’t win the league.
Juventus took the lead in the ninth minute when Marco Borriello forced his way into the area and set up Luca Marrone, who opened the scoring with a powerful right-footed shot.
And Del Piero, who has been at Juventus since 1993, scored his 289th goal for the club shortly before the half hour when he fired home from the edge of the area.
The Juve captain was substituted in the 57th minute to a standing ovation as the players and staff of both teams joined in with the resounding applause for the club icon.
The standing ovation and cheers continued even after Del Piero had left the field and the fomer Italy forward got back off the bench and walked around the pitch saluting the fans and gathering scarves which had been thrown down to him. Many fans were in tears.
Atalanta pulled one back eight minutes from time when Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner turned Giacomo Bonaventura’s cross into his own net but the home side restored its two-goal advantage in stoppage time after Thomas Manfredini brought down Borriello in the area and Andrea Barzagli fired home the resulting penalty.
The celebrations are set to continue through the night, with an open-topped bus parade planned for this evening.
Before the game at Milan, Nesta, Gattuso, Inzaghi and Van Bommel were given a standing ovation as clips of important matches they had played in were shown on the big screen during the warmup and they were individually thanked over the loudspeaker.
Van Bommel has only been at Milan a year and a half, but the others have spent 10 years or more with the Rossoneri and they were in tears, as were several of their teammates. Three giant shirts, each one bearing one of the trio’s names, were held up by fans at one end, while there were banners dedicated to them around the stadium.
It seemed as if Novara was going to ruin their farewells when Santiago Garcia gave it the lead in the 20th minute but Mathieu Flamini levelled 11 minutes after the break and Inzaghi scored the winner eight minutes from time. The former Juventus striker finishes his club career with 288 goals in 620 appearances in all competitions, including 126 in 300 games for Milan.
"I have never gone out onto the pitch without this obsession to score," Inzaghi said. "My mum watched me train yesterday and told me I was crazy because today should have been a exhibition, but I knew that I had to come on and score."
Elsewhere, Roma won 3-2 at Cesena in Luis Enrique’s last match in charge.
Simone Del Nero gave Cesena the lead but Bojan Krkic, Erik Lamela and Daniele De Rossi all scored for Roma before Mario Santana fired home a late consolation for the home side.
Jonathan Biabiany scored to give Parma a 1-0 win over Bologna, while Fiorentina drew 0-0 at home to Cagliari.