Juventus beat Monza 2-1 to win the Trofeo Berlusconi, with a splendid Filippo Ranocchia curler and Dejan Kulusevski strike.
This pre-season friendly is in its 25th year and used to be between Milan and Juventus, but Silvio Berlusconi sold the Rossoneri and is now in charge of Serie B promotion hopefuls Monza.
Paulo Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo were left behind in Turin to continue their fitness training, with the Italy internationals not expected back until Monday following UEFA EURO 2020. Max Allegri initially sent his men out in a 4-3-3 formation, with Aaron Ramsey in front of the defence.
It didn’t take long for Juve to break the deadlock with a stunning finish from youth team midfielder Pippo Ranocchia, who curled left-footed from the edge of the box after good work from teammate Matias Soulè.
Dejan Kulusevski got the second goal after the restart, pouncing on a defensive error as Monza tried to play out from the back.
Adrien Rabiot was lively and stung the Monza goalkeeper’s gloves, but the hosts did get their consolation goal late on, Marco D’Alessandro with a cushioned volley after Pedro Pereira’s cross was knocked down smartly by Andrea Colpani.
Monza pushed hard for the equaliser, which would’ve made the match go to penalties, but Juve lift the Trofeo Berlusconi.
Monza 1-2 Juventus
Ranocchia 12 (J), Kulusevski 52 (J), D’Alessandro 87 (M)
Monza: Di Gregorio, Sampirisi, Bellusci (Paletta 59), Caldirola (Pirola 46), Pedro Pereira, Brescianini (Colpani 46), Barillà (Scozzarella 74), Machin (Maric 61), Carlos Augusto (Donati 59), D’Alessandro (Maric 88), Gytkjaer (Valoti 63)
Juventus: Szczesny (Perin 46); De Sciglio (Hajdari 81), Demiral (Rugani 46), De Ligt (Dragusin 60), Pellegrini (De Winter 46); Ranocchia (Peeters 67), Ramsey (Fagioli 46), Rabiot (Miretti 67); Kulusevski (Marques 67), Brighenti (Aké 60), Soulè (Felix Correira 60)
FT | 🏁| We cross the finish line to take the Luigi Berlusconi Trophy! 🏆#MonzaJuve #FinoAllaFine #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/vWIAVkAhTr
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) July 31, 2021