Juventus made sure of the Serie A title for the fifth year in a row late last month.
The Bianconeri achievement came as no surprise. In fact, the best team had once again prevailed in the Italian top flight.
But it is rather surprising the way Juventus did it this time around. In the past seasons – bar 2011/12 – Juventus dominated from start to finish, practically leading the Serie A table from day one of the campaign.
This time it was different. In October, Juventus had just lost against Sassuolo and were languishing in 12th place in Serie A with just 12 points under their belt.
At that juncture, Roma were flying high in the campionato… no fewer than 11 points clear of Juventus.
The indications were that Massimiliano Allegri’s team were going to lose their crown following such an uninspiring start. Few teams in Europe had the drive to make a comeback from that unfavourable position.
In the English Premier League this season, champions Chelsea also experienced a disappointing start and they never really recovered. Indeed, the change of coach – Guus Hiddink in for Jose Mourinho – did little to stem the tide at Stamford Bridge.
Back to the Serie A… a last-gasp home win over Torino, in a hard-fought derby on October 31, marked the start of Juve’s revival. Since then, Allegri’s men never looked back as they came from behind to upstage early pace-setters Roma, Inter and, more recently, Napoli to seal their 32nd scudetto.
Credit goes to the Juventus chiefs for having had the vision to believe in Allegri and his operate. Few other clubs would have kept faith with their coach following such a disappointing start – three wins, three draws and four defeats.
Last summer, Juventus lost the services of three key players – Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez.
It took quite a few weeks for Allegri to come up with a new formula. But once he did, no other side could stop the Bianconeri.
As a matter of fact, between the 11th and the 36th days of the league, Juventus went on to win 25 games out of a possible 26.
Only Bologna (0-0 on the 26th day) succeeded in avoiding defeat to the Italian champions.
That scorching run helped Juventus to a fifth league title in a row with three games to spare. Over a span of 25 games, Juve amassed 25 points more than Roma and 21 than Napoli.
So far, Juventus have conceded 18 goals.
In the second round alone, inspirational keeper Gianluigi Buffon only let in two goals – an Andrea Belotti penalty against Torino and an Alex strike against Milan.
If Buffon keeps a clean sheet against Verona and Sampdoria (Juve’s remaining two fixtures this season), the club will break their own record in terms of goals conceded, established in season 2011/12.
This season, Buffon has also established a personal Serie A record – 974 minutes played without conceding a single goal. The previous benchmark belonged to former Milan custodian Sebastiano Rossi in 1993/94.
Many now believe Juve’s domestic dominance is set to continue as on May 21, the ‘Old Lady’ have an opportunity to complete their second successive domestic double when they take on Milan in the Coppa Italia final.
Off the field, Juve’s business model puts them streets ahead of all other Italian clubs. They can afford to sign quality players, both foreign and home products, and that aspect alone makes them favourites to continue dominating the Serie A.
Over the past five years, Juventus played 188 league games, winning 137, drawing 37 and losing only 14 (scoring 360 and conceding 109 goals in the process).
During this particular period, they collected almost 100 points more than Napoli, 133 than Milan, over 100 points than Roma and 160 points more than Inter.
These figures speak for themselves. The indications are that Juve’s dominance will continue, at least for the near future.
The challenge for the Bianconeri will always be success in the Champions League which has been eluding them since 1996.