Coppa Italia: Atalanta Knock Juventus Out In Quarter-finals, Massimiliano Allegri Blames Defeat On Injury

Cristiano Ronaldo just missed out on a title chance with Juventus following the team's 3-0 defeat to Atalanta in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday. 

It was a well deserved victory for the home side over Juve, which are yet to concede a League game and lead with 11 points clear their closest rival Napoli. 

Atalanta opening goal came through Timothy Castagne who stole the ball from Joao Cancelo and sent it home in 37th minutes, then two minutes later Duvan Zapata added in the second. 

Juve was close to reducing the deficit after the break but Atalanta golakeeper Etrit Berisha saved Sami Khedira's volley, and late into the game Cristiano Ronaldo failed to convert a chance drilling a volley over the crossbar. 

Atalanta widened the lead over the title holders through Zapata who slammed home a cut-back from Mattia de Sciglio in 86th minutes.

Manager Massimiliano Allegri, who has won the title four times with Juve, was sent off during the match. Speaking after the match the 51-year-old admitted their opponents deserved to win the match and the referee was right to have him sent off. 

"I was losing my temper at the time," Allegri said about been sent off the pitch "This result was in the air for a while, frankly."

He blamed his team's poor outing on injury spell saying "We had players coming back from injuries, others who were out. You can recover one or two games from a negative situation, but you're going to lose eventually."