ROME -- Three quick thoughts from Juventus' 2-1 extra-time win over Lazio in the Coppa Italia final at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday night.
1. Allegri has tough decisions ahead of Champions League final
With just two and a half weeks to go to the definitive moment of Juventus' season, Wednesday night's Coppa Italia final against Lazio was an opportunity for manager Massimiliano Allegri to take a closer look at the players he intends to send into action in Berlin.
Allegri does not have all that many doubts for the Champions League final against Barcelona and, barring any late injuries, he only really has two or a maximum of three questions to answer.
If the Coppa Italia final was being treated by Allegri as a dress rehearsal, it may just have confused matters a little for him.
A 3-5-2 formation, with Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci on defence, is the approach that is speculated to be Allegri's answer in keeping forwards Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar out of mischief, if they are to return triumphant from the German capital.
The fact Allegri therefore picked a three-man defence in the Italian capital on Wednesday night may be suggestive. Barzagli has been back from a long-term injury absence for just a month, and the more opportunities Allegri can give him to consolidate his understanding with Chiellini and Bonucci the better, to judge if that can be a valid option in Berlin.
It is clear that Gianluigi Buffon will return in goal for Juve's Coppa Italia custodian Marco Storari, and both Alvaro Morata and Claudio Marchisio will be available having missed this final due to suspension.
Fitting all of Juventus' stars may not be so easy, however. Paul Pogba was able to get some more match minutes in his legs, but he was unable to make an impression in the Coppa Italia final. Andrea Pirlo, meanwhile, did manage to put in one of his most impressive shifts in recent weeks, not that leaving him out in Berlin was ever going to be an option anyway.
Marchisio may therefore earn the nod over Pogba, since he also provides a little more security defensively than an at times erratic Pogba.
Which leads into the final choice, one which was further complicated on Wednesday night by a certain Alessandro Matri. His cup-winning goal was not the only argument he provided for a little more consideration in June. Although he is unlikely to snatch a starting XI berth from either Morata (the favourite), Carlos Tevez or Fernando Llorente, he could have edged up the pecking order at forward with his appearance in Rome.
The trump card the former Genoa forward may hold is that he has appeared so fleetingly this season that he arguably has the freshest legs of Allegri's four forwards. When cramp and tiredness could be an issue, Matri might be there to crown Juve's season.
He did that effectively on Wednesday night, winning Juve the Coppa Italia and keeping the Bianconeri on course for a treble.
One thing perhaps Allegri might have preferred from his side's dress rehearsal was not to have an extra half an hour to play. But then with the potential for that also in Berlin, he could deem himself generally satisfied with his team ready to go to Berlin as Italian champions, Coppa Italia winners and ready to make even more history, in another Olympic Stadium.
2. Chiellini finally enjoys Coppa Italia win
It was fitting that the man who was there when Juve were held to a 1-1 draw by Rimini to mark the start of the 2006-07 Serie B season was leading the Bianconeri out onto the field at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday night. And it was equally fitting that it was he, Giorgio Chiellini, who netted the goal that got Juve back on terms in the Coppa Italia final.
"I've been at Juve for 10 years and played in just one [Cup] final, and I still haven't digested the fact we lost that," Chiellini said on the eve of Wednesday's showpiece.
It was not the only moment of indigestion Chiellini has had since becoming a Juve player a decade ago, even if there have been many more satiating moments in recent years.
"When you're not winning, you can't quite imagine what these feelings of satisfaction must be like, but when you do feel it, then it sticks with you and you want it at all costs," Chiellini said.
It is a taste he and his Juve teammates have acquired and grown to love, and Wednesday night's Coppa Italia victory, which completed a domestic league and cup double, was further proof of their quenchless desire for trophies.
So does Juve's dominance make Italian football boring? "As far as I'm concerned, it's impossible for something so beautiful to become boring," Chiellini added. "We've been winning in Italy for four years, but personally I had been here for six without winning anything.
"The important thing is we never lose our desire to win and celebrate, and that has allowed us to reach all of these objectives in these years. I hope this continues for a long time to come, but it's going to get increasingly difficult."
While he was able to hang the eighth significant medal around his neck on Wednesday night, the true test of his and Juve's yearning for glory comes on June 6. When they meet Barcelona in the Champions League final in Berlin, it will be the culmination of a nine-year rise from Serie B to the zenith of the European game.
"It's certainly something to be proud about, reaching the final of the Champions League after all that I've been through with Juventus," Chiellini said. "I was just talking about it with Gigi [Buffon] and Claudio [Marchisio], how much we've been through together and how it's now only right that we get to enjoy a game like this.
"I can still remember [playing at Serie B clubs] Rimini, Frosinone, Crotone, and now to be able to win the Champions League is really stimulating. We've done a good job in lifting ourselves these years and never sitting back and settling for what we've already won. That has been the greatest strength of this side over the years."
They underlined it once again on Wednesday by clinching their 10th Coppa Italia title and second trophy of the season. All that remains is for them to complete the treble, and then they can start looking forward to facing newly-promoted Frosinone again next season.
3. Lazio's real focus is on Champions League qualification
With all due respect to the Coppa Italia, Lazio's final was not on Wednesday night in Rome, but next Monday.
Although a trophy was at stake at the Stadio Olimpico, and it would have been manager Stefano Pioli's first, given the option between beating Juve or conquering city rivals Roma in one of the most important Eternal City derbies on record this coming Monday, the choice would have been rather simple.
For all the riches and prestige in winning the Coppa Italia for what would have been a seventh time, that could never have competed with what a season of Champions League football could bring. Lazio were already assured of a place in the Europa League next season so not even that was a significant incentive. A place in that competition is not what Pioli's men particularly want. The Champions League is their target.
The 2015-16 edition marks the beginning of a new three-year cycle in which UEFA's chief club competition becomes more lucrative than ever. A place in the group stage is a guarantee of more revenue than winning the Coppa Italia for each of the next 20 years could provide.
Heading into Monday's derby, Lazio trail the Giallorossi by a point. The two clubs are currently fighting for second place, which holds a direct ticket to the group stage or third place, which has a berth in the playoff which Italian clubs have traditionally struggled in.
That one position is the difference between a guaranteed 12 million -- and potentially much more -- or something akin to a lottery ticket for those prizes with no more than a 50 percent chance of victory. Sampdoria, Udinese and more recently Napoli have discovered how Serie A clubs are often unprepared for the two games at the end of August which shape an entire season.
Although the next league season will start a little earlier, in view of EURO 2016, that hardly makes a two-legged tussle with another top European side more palatable when the stakes are so high, and when missing out can cost so much. Missing out on the Coppa Italia will therefore not see too many tears shed in Rome, just as long as Lazio win their next match against Roma.
If they lose that, then they have one more final to look forward to on the final day of the season, when they head to fourth-placed Napoli perhaps still needing to win to clinch third. Only then will they discover if defeat in Wednesday's Coppa Italia final hurt more than just their pride.