In a Bizarre Finale Juventus Loses Crown in Perugia After Sudden Storm and Long Delay By Rob Hughes International Herald Tribune - Italian soccer, mired in the suspicion that the billionaires can buy anything, got an answer from above Sunday during the season's last round of Serie A matches. In Perugia, on the central spine of the country, rain flooded the pitch where Juventus, the league leader, was expected to close out another title. Down in Rome, a two hour journey south, Lazio, the only club that could deprive Juve of the championship, played on in sunshine and easily beat Reggina, 3-0. The Roman crowd stayed in the Olympic stadium celebrating and waiting.
Nature is indeed fickle.
At the start of the match in the Renato Curi stadium, beneath the mountains of Perugia, the sky was azure blue, the advantage heavily with Juventus. But all that changed by half time. Nowhere else that soccer was being played in Italy seemed to have the downpour, the hailstones, the thunder and lightning that rained down on Perugia. Soccer historians might have warned that this stadium held portents for Juventus. It was here, almost a quarter of a century ago, that Juventus was denied a Serie A crown on the last day of a campaign.