In October, Juventus was in unfamiliar territory. Through the first ten games of the season, the reigning champions of Serie A had accumulated just twelve points. After losing their opening match, manager Massimiliano Allegri emphasized that “Serie A is a marathon, not a 100 meter final.” But following their 1-0 defeat to Sassuolo in late October which saw Juventus off to their worst start in Serie A in almost fifty years, Allegri’s tone was distinctly different. He called for “an immediate change of attitude” in the team, and proceeded to take the team on a week-long training retreat. After a week away from their families, the players returned to Turin and won 2-1 against local rival Torino. They haven’t looked back since.
Since the loss to Sassuolo, Juventus have won 24 out of their last 25 games, with their only blemish coming in an away draw against Bologna. Their 2-1 victory over Fiorentina on Sunday increased their point tally to 85 on the season, 12 points ahead of second place Napoli. Napoli needed a win over Roma to remain in the title race. Despite a strong season, they failed to come up with the goods, and the club nicknamed “The Old Lady” secured their fifth straight Serie A title with three games to spare.
Perhaps even more remarkable than Juventus’ improbable turnaround is the squad they did it with. After all, the current team is far from the team that won the domestic double and made it to the final of the Champions League last year. Carlos Tevez, their leading scorer in 2015, returned home to Argentina and his boyhood club Boca Juniors. Midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo followed in the footsteps of Frank Lampard and other former European greats and moved to the MLS to play for New York City FC. Perhaps Juventus’s biggest loss was their engine in midfield, Arturo Vidal, who left for Bayern Munich. With these departures, Juventus was dealt the difficult task of replacing a trio that accounted for nearly half of the team’s goals in 2015. Maybe, then, the early season struggles that led Italian newspaper Tuttosport to ask “Is this even Juve?” was more due to a lack of identity than to a lack of quality. After all, despite the early season struggles, their summer arrivals have flourished.
Veteran Sami Khedira has been a rock in the midfield this season, with the injury problems that left him on the fringes of the Real Madrid squad a distant memory. Meanwhile, Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala have formed a potent partnership in attack, combining for 31 goals in all competitions this year. Dybala, just 22 years old, has also developed chemistry with Paul Pogba, which could prove equally as important as his goal-scoring. Despite rumors that the French ace would move to Barcelona once their transfer ban was lifted, Pogba has indicated that he has no intention to leave, and the general manager of Juventus has indicated that they are under no financial pressure to sell. Juventus has won the past five Serie A titles. There’s no reason to think it won’t be six next year.
