Juventus 2017: Serie A’s greatest ever side?

Date: 23rd May 2017 at 9:44am
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By wrapping up a sixth straight Scudetto, Juventus achieved a feat that no other side has managed in Serie A

It is no great surprise to many observers that Juventus have secured their sixth successive Scudetto.

Since ending the Milan clubs’ monopoly in 2012, they have set about establishing a dynasty of their own and as they celebrated another successful defence, you couldn’t help but wonder about this current side’s legacy.

While arguments about a particular side’s place in history and their standing compared to others is always a difficult and subjective one to have, even if it does provoke interesting debate, there is a case to be made for the current Juventus team at least being considered the best ever to play in Italian football.

There are some outstanding candidates for the honour. Juventus themselves had some terrific, all conquering teams in the 1930s, 1970s and 1980s as well as in the 1990s.

The Grande Torino and their tragic history mean they hold a big claim to it as can Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan side during Silvio Berlusconi’s early years.

Although the competition wasn’t at its fiercest, there is no taking away from Inter’s achievements during the noughties and during the 1960s too under Helenio Herrera, while Genoa did dominate the early years of Italian football when the league was in its infancy.

Even if we don’t compare Juventus’ six-in-a-row side to those illustrious icons of the past, we can certainly enjoy them for their incredible achievements over the course of the past six seasons.

As good as those aforementioned teams of the past were, no club in Italian football history ever before managed to win six successive top flight titles until the Old Lady’s class of 2017 came along and across Europe’s top five leagues, only Lyon have bettered that record when they won seven in a row.

At the core of that success has been the continued influence of the Agnelli family, who have helped bring the Bianconeri into a new home worthy of housing such record-breaking triumphs and their directorial staff.

On the playing side of things, Antonio Conte deserves credit for playing his part in delivering the first half of their Scudetti, while Massimiliano Allegri filled the void effortlessly to take his own Italian title tally to four. Only Giovanni Trapattoni, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi have won more.

There has also been a nucleus of stalwarts who have made up the spine of the side and steered the Bianconeri to each of their six titles: Gianluigi Buffon, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Claudio Marchisio.

En route to their run of title victories, the Turin giants also broke and set some records along the way, just to add weight to the argument concerning where they stand against the great sides of the past.

They recorded the longest run of Serie A wins with no team being able to even hold them for a draw for 33 consecutive matches and in all six seasons, the Bianconeri totalled at least 84 points at the end of the campaign, a level of class and consistency no other side can come close to.

In each season, they finished the campaign with the top flight’s best defence, collecting 121 clean sheets over the past six years, with the next closest team managing 79, which seems almost disappointing by way of comparison.

Their captain, who has now won more Scudetti than any other player with eight, can also revel in the role he has played in making this Juventus side so difficult to score against, let alone pick up results against.

In the past six seasons, the second best goalkeeper in terms of clean sheets in Italy has been Samir Handanovic with 76 but even he is utterly dwarfed by Buffon who has managed 106.

A total of 66 players have made appearances for the Bianconeri at some point in Serie A across their six successful seasons and all can lay claim to playing some part in establishing the Bianconeri as a true Italian football dynasty.

With one game left to play in the current season, just look at the statistics that this unstoppable, black and white juggernaut have registered in the past six seasons and try to argue against them being considered one of the all-time great sides in calcio history.

They have managed a staggering 166 wins and 41 draws from their 227 games played, losing on just 20 occasions as they have cruised to title after title. That is a stunning level of consistency.

With attacking and creative talents like Carlos Tevez, Alvaro Morata, Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain at their disposal, it is no surprise that they have scored 441 goals, conceding just 137 in the same amount of time.

On average, that works out at a rate of 1.9 goals scored per game, while conceding just 0.6 and they have averaged 2.4 points per game picked up in the last six seasons.

Nobody in Italy has been able to stop them. All that is left now is for them to deliver the definitive statement of their greatness by becoming just the third Juventus side ever to lift the Champions League trophy.

That is the opportunity that awaits them in Cardiff against Real Madrid in June.

 

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