Decade of Domination 7 : Juventus
Taking a Look at that Nine-Year Spell of Invincibility — 2017/18
Nine years of success that had all other Serie A clubs as livid as Germano Mosconi after the third take.
How did Juventus orchestrate their historic winning streak?
This is Part 7 (of 10) on 2017/18. Click here to read from the beginning (2011/12)
Warning : This content may harm Inter, Milan, Roma and Napoli fans.
2017/18 : The Old Lady gets her facelift
What’s left to do after breaking an 82-year-old Serie A record? Extending it. And to Max Allegri’s credit, a seventh successive title was on the cards. Juve fans expected domestic titles by default and demanded European success.
The Agnelli’s wanted to re-brand. Juventus Stadium had become Allianz Stadium. The new club logo was released in time for a digital push, reaching out globally through a new docu-series, First Team, on Netflix.
La Vecchia Signora’s facelift now meant that she was available on demand, attracting viewers worldwide.
A few years earlier, Antonio Conte had revolutionised Juve into a force to be reckoned with, eventually moving on after winning three Serie A titles. And while the Old Lady was busy winning her sixth consecutive Scudetto last term, Conte was also adding to his trophy stash, albeit in a foreign land, winning the English Premier League title with Chelsea.
He’d once elevated Matri, Quagliarella, Pepe and Vucinic from household names into temporary deities, performing all the heavy lifting so that the next coach who came along would merely have to follow the same path.
Both Conte and Allegri’s success relied heavily on the defensive heroics of Buffon in goal and Chiellini, Bonucci and Lichtsteiner. This quartet had combined so effectively over the years, like a fortified wall of Kingdom’s past.
However, Bianconeri fans would find out in July 2017 that one of their favourite sons had decided to leave. Leonardo Bonucci made a swift, shocking summer exit, and his transfer to Milan was finalised for €42 million.
The Transfers Out : Leonardo Bonucci (Milan), Dani Alves (PSG), Mario Lemina (Southampton), Neto (Valencia), Tomás Rincón (Torino), Moise Kean (Verona), Rolando Mandragora (Crotone), Paolo De Ceglie (Servette)
The Transfers In : Wojciech Szczęsny (Arsenal), Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Rodrigo Bentancur (Boca Juniors), Blaise Matuidi (PSG), Mattia De Sciglio (Milan), Federico Bernadeschi (Fiorentina), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04)
Based on player availabilities, Allegri would rotate between 3–5–2, 4–3–3 and his “five-star system” of 4–2–3–1, where Mario Mandžukič would be transformed into an unorthodox winger.
This method helped spread their opponent’s defences wider, creating more space for Gonzalo Higuain and Paolo Dybala, both Argentines topping the 20+ goal mark across all competitions for the campaign.
Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli were the main contenders for the Serie A title this season. The Partenopei had dealt with the departure of Higuain exceptionally, as Dries Mertens was thrown in to play a false nine role, scoring 34 times in 2016/17.
Napoli managed to reel Juventus back to within just one League point with four rounds to go, the win sparking huge celebrations in Campania, after Kalidou Koulibaly headed home a late winner in Turin on Match Day 34.
However, Juventus managed to defend their title in a controversial fashion. The following round in the Derby d’Italia, Inter was reduced to 10 men after just 15 minutes. With the scores deadlocked at 1–1, referee Daniele Orsato then failed to show a second yellow card to Miralem Pjanić for his high challenge on Rafinha — a foul which many pundits thought warranted a red card.
Inter still managed to take a 2–1 lead until more late drama ensued. Finishing the game with eleven men, the Bianconeri found two late goals to take all three points in a come-from-behind win.
The Scudetto challenge was effectively over the next day when Napoli visited Fiorentina. Koulibaly was initially shown a yellow card for his challenge on Giovanni Simeone before VAR intervened to advise Paolo Mazzoleni to send off the defender. The match ended 3–0 for the Viola and Napoli’s challenge was finito.
Juventus then concluded Serie A with 95 points, Napoli on 91 — their highest ever points tally not enough to win their first title since 1989/90. The coaching carousel took Maurizio Sarri from the Neopolitans to the vacant Chelsea job vacated by Antonio Conte. Max Allegri won his fourth title as Juve coach, surpassing Conte, and number 34 for the club.
Key Contributor : Diego Costa with 12 assists, starting only 18 times.
Best Winning Streak : 12 games. 20 game undefeated streak.
Biggest Win : Juventus 7 v Sassuolo 0 (Higuain 3, Khedira 2, Pjanić, Alex Sandro)
Leading Serie A Goal Scorers 2017/18 : 22 Dybala, 16 Higuain, 9 Khedira, 5 Mandžukic, Pjanić, 4 Alex Sandro, Douglas Costa, Cuadrado
While both Juventus and Napoli only lost three games each throughout the season, the stark difference can be seen in attack and defence as the Bianconeri scored 9 more times, conceding 5 fewer goals, for a goal difference of +62, compared to the Azzurri’s +48. Roma, Inter and Lazio all lagged behind while Milan ended the season in 6th.
Coppa Italia 2017/18
To add to the extension of the historical consecutive Serie A title run, Juventus also extended the all-time consecutive Italian Cup title run, winning a third in as many years.
Leonardo Bonucci’s defensive presence was hardly felt as Genoa, Torino and Atalanta all failed to score against the sturdy centre-half pairing of Andrea Barzagli and Mehdi Benatia, the latter scoring a brace in the final.
The goals were shared around, the Bianconeri tucking away 10 of them, with 4 of those caressing Gianluigi Donnarumma’s net. Milan, the club Bonucci had departed for in the summer, was comprehensively wrecked 4–0 at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico in the Coppa Italia Final.
Champions League 2017/18
Apart from a heavy 3–0 loss to Lionel Messi’s Barcelona side, Juve cruised through Group D to reach the Round of 16, racking up the bulk of their points against Olympiacos and Sporting Lisbon.
Tottenham turned around a two-goal deficit in the first round of the knockout stage to find themselves ahead 3–2 on aggregate by halftime of the second leg in London.
However, Gonzalo Higuain and Paolo Dybala scored within three minutes of each other to guide the Old Lady to a 1–2 away win, winning 3–4 overall, to book in a famous quarter-final berth with Real Madrid — a rematch of last season’s UEFA Champions League Final.
The first leg, played in Turin, ended up providing ninety minutes of torture for the 40,000 fans in attendance as Cristiano Ronaldo’s brace, and a goal from Marcelo, thrust Los Blancos to a 0–3 away goal lead. Paolo Dybala’s expulsion sprinkled salt into La Vecchia Signora’s hemorrhaging wound.
With Allegri opting for a 4–3–3, Mario Mandžukić headed in at the back post early in the second leg, before scoring his second in identical fashion in the 37th minute to beat Keylor Navas.
Then confusion and poor communication from a Douglas Costa cross allowed Blaise Matuidi to capitalise on a Navas fumble, the Frenchman tapping in unmarked and suddenly it was 3–3. The Madridistas were silenced as Buffon fist pumped in ecstasy.
With extra time looming Real Madrid pressed forward in stoppages. This time it would be a contentious decision going against Juventus as Lucas Vasquez fell to the ground after contact from Benatia. Referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot, inciting a distraught Buffon, and the Juve captain was expelled from the match.
Gonzalo Higuain made way for the reserve goalie, Wojciech Szczęsny, who watched Ronaldo’s penalty conversion sail over his outstretched arms. Real Madrid sent Juventus out of the Champions League for the second season in a row.
So close to overcoming what was seemingly an impossible task, Allegri’s men watched on as the Portuguese superstar celebrated euphorically.
Real Madrid would go on to eliminate Bayern Munich while Liverpool had to fend off Italian club Roma in their semi final which ended 7–6. Los Merengues claimed a thirteenth title after defeating the Reds in the final 3–1.
The bitter taste of European failure would influence the Juve hierarchy, Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici, to make a bid for one of the world’s best footballers in the upcoming transfer window of 2018/19.
Conclusion
Max Allegri had surpassed Antonio Conte’s efforts on the domestic front as Juventus won the domestic double.
Ciro Immobile’s efforts, along with Alessandro Murgia’s 93rd-minute winner, steered Lazio to a 3–2 Italian Super Cup success. Played on Italian soil for the first time in four years, the Biancocelesti were able to exact revenge on Juventus after the 2–0 loss in 2015 in Shanghai.
Five Juventini were called up to Gian Piero Ventura’s Italy squad for that fateful play-off encounter with Sweden — Buffon, Chiellini, Barzagli, Rugani, and Bernadeschi.
Ventura opted for the Juve defence of previous years — Buffon, Chiellini, Barzagli and Bonucci — which proved to be effective, albeit for Jakob Johansson’s deflected strike which wrong-footed Buffon in his penultimate international game. Although dominating for over 180 minutes, Italy simply failed to score over the two legs and the Nazionale missed out on FIFA 2018 in Russia.
Factolicious : Gianluigi Buffon announced his farewell to both Serie A and the national team after 23 seasons in Italy, 17 of those in Turin. The Juve skipper had won nine league titles, playing 640 times — the second highest behind Paolo Maldini (647).
Finally, Juventus had been pressured all the way for the Serie A title. The battle, both on the pitch and in the media, with Napoli and their president, Aurelio De Laurentis, was fast and furious.
Ex Napoli striker, Gonzalo Higuain had inflamed the Stadio San Paolo, stroking the ball past Pepe Reina to win 0–1 in December to exacerbate past grudges. Kalidou Koulibaly returned the favour as Napoli triumphed at Juventus Stadium. However, La Vecchia Signora had fended off the southern clubs to repeatedly snatch away the Scudetto over and over.
Goal Scorers (All Comp.) : 26 Dybala, 23 Higuain, 10 Mandžukić, 9 Khedira, 7 Pjanić, 6 Douglas Costa, 5 Cuadrado and Bernadeschi.
The pursuit of European happiness had taken precedence. Beppe Marotta would have to cough up €100 million to attract the planet’s best forward in a bid to put an end to the Champions League torment. Read more about that in Part 8 (of 10).
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