We've spent a lot of time around these parts using Simone Padoin as the butt of quite a number of jokes.
But when we look at the final scoresheet after Juventus' 1-0 win over Atalanta on Monday night, only one person's name will be listed as scoring a goal — Simone Padoin.
Yes, that same Padoin who has been Antonio Conte's human victory cigar the past couple of seasons. The same Padoin who has, somehow, continued to remain on the Juventus roster through one of the greatest runs we've seen the club make on the domestic level. The same Padoin who now has as many Scudetti as Roma do as a club.
Magic? More like ... we'll just go with magic.
Juventus' Scudetto party was exactly that. The singing in the stadium started well before the opening kickoff and certainly lasted well after the final whistle blew. It was a night to celebrate — and the win was just something that put the icing on the cake.
#Conte: "These lads are extraordinary. We've had three intense campaigns and I can only thank each and every one of them." #JuveX3
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) May 5, 2014
But who figured that SImone Padoin, the man who is basically the definition of Mr. Ordinary, would be the won who go his team's game-winning goal on the night they celebrated a third straight Scudetto?
This sport can be predictable at times. Or it can be like it was tonight — a game where Simone freaking Padoin scored a pretty decent goal to make sure Juve's Scudetto party had three points tagging alongside.
Although, with that being said...
@vittoriopazzini Padoin in the 86th minute.
— BWRAO (@JuventusNation) May 5, 2014
Close enough, right? Not bad for being completely sarcastic at the time. I take full credit.
On that note, I'll just shut up and let the players sing.
What was it that Notorious BIG said? "Throw your hands in the air if you a true player...
Random thoughts and observations
- Juventus' home record in Serie A this season: 18 games played, 18 wins. That's pretty good.
- Juventus are on 96 points with two games to go. That's pretty good.
- Today was Antonio Conte's 100th win as Juventus manager. That's pretty good, too.
- A lot of the post-game quotes was about the season as a whole rather than the game itself. That's pretty
- If you haven't seen it by now, Giorgio Chiellini and Carlos Tévez almost slept through Juve's Scudetto celebration at the team hotel on Sunday. That would have been an all-timer if they did. Kids these days, I tell ya...
- Some people were shooting the BWRAO Twitter account complaints about Conte's performance in Europe minutes before kickoff. Come on, people. We can talk about that another day. But not this day. Enjoy the party. Winning three straight titles doesn't happen often. We're witnessing history right in front of our own eyes.
- Idiots. It doesn't matter how many people were involved. Idiots. That's all I have to say on that matter.
- Read into this as you wish...
Conte- "I need to understand if I have the strength to move forward. I'll speak with the club, but I am and always be a Juventino."
— Aaron Giambattista (@agiamba) May 5, 2014
In a way, it could very well be the flat-out exhaustion from Conte's end talking here. It's been a stressful nine months for Conte (as I'm sure it almost always is). You see the way he coaches on the sideline each game and I just imagine him getting home and collapsing in bed, sleeping for hours on end. It could also be a little double message to the Juve board as well. "Give me the players to really do damage on more fronts." That'd be fine with me, honestly. But there's going to be a whole lot of reading into the quote above by people who get paid money to speculate about calcio things. The Italian press will certainly get a bump in sales after they go through a round or two of "Will Conte stay or go?" mumbo jumbo. - Simone Padoin scored the game's only goal — a pretty good one, at that. I'm still laughing, still somewhat dumbfounded by it all. Magic? Magic.
We are all Simone Padoin.
— BWRAO (@JuventusNation) May 5, 2014