During Tuesday night’s Coppa Italia semi-final clash between Juventus and Inter Milan, did a metaphorical changing of the guard take place on the hallowed Allianz Stadium turf?
As grizzled, 30-something veterans Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci watched on from the bench, Merih Demiral and Matthijs de Ligt channelled their inner Octavian and Marcus Agrippa; a fearsome, uncompromising and ruthless partnership stepping up in style with glory in their sights.
Inter’s much-vaunted strikeforce of Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez barely had a look-in, reduced to spectator status by two centre-halves who, at 22 and 21 respectively, look every-inch the future of Andrea Pirlo’s backline.
A week on from Cristiano Ronaldo’s double in the San Siro, a 0-0 draw in Turin means Juventus will face either Atalanta or Napoli in the Coppa Italia final.
Tuesday night was a triumph not only for Catenaccio, but also Juventus’s next generation.
After a difficult debut season, in which his every error was ruthlessly and repetitively analysed by those who dared to question his £67 million price-tag, the former Ajax skipper De Ligt is now starting to resemble a bargain.
Demiral, meanwhile, has emerged a better, tougher and more complete defender after a horrific cruciate ligament injury nearly 12 months ago.
On last night’s evidence, Juventus will have no regrets about turning down a £50 million January bid from Premier League champions Liverpool (Sport Mediaset).
It is hard to imagine that, if Jurgen Klopp’s beleaguered side had a defender of Demiral’s class and presence to call on, they would have collapsed so dramatically during Sunday’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City.
In a tough-tackling Turk who models his game on Nemanja Vidic, Juventus have a defender who has supporters hoping that life after Chiellini and Bonucci will still be coated in silver.
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