Legendary Juventus can add to its already great history

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This article was published 06/05/2017 (3381 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fifteen years ago, the Scudetto came down to the final round of matches.

It would be an almost unthinkable scenario in today’s Serie A — a title race going right down to the wire — but, as it turned out, that afternoon in May 2002 delivered a result we’re not at all unfamiliar with, even now: a Juventus triumph.

David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero scored in Bianconeri’s 2-0 win at Udinese, although they still required help from elsewhere.

They got it from Lazio, who upset Inter Milan and Ronaldo — playing his final match for the Nerazzurri — and the trophy returned to Turin after a three-year absence.

Juve can win another Scudetto this weekend — it needs to beat Torino in the derby and hope for a Roma trip-up at AC Milan — but with four games still remaining its celebration is a matter of “when,” not “if.” Juventus will finish atop Serie A this spring, and it’ll do so for an Italian-ecord sixth successive time.

Granted, this has hardly been an era of parity in Serie A, although new investment in both Milan clubs could perhaps restore something akin to the competitiveness of 15 years ago, when Juventus became the fourth club in four seasons to win the league. And if Napoli and Roma can continue to narrow the gap with La Vecchia Signora, the calcio on the peninsula soon could be something broader than the single, Juventus narrative that has become the norm in recent times.

In that light, and given the advancing ages of many of their key players, the next few weeks could represent something of a last hurrah for current epoch of Juve dominance. (There will be another; that’s just how Italian football works.) Even manager Massimiliano Allegri is unsure about a new contract. There is something gloriously final about it all.

Perhaps, appropriately, the spring of 2017 could also see Juventus win a first treble.

With Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Monaco the two-time European champion already has one foot in the Champions League final, and if it finishes the job in Tuesday’s second leg, its Coppa Italia final against Lazio will be moved up to May 17 from June 2.

Juventus already has done successive domestic doubles, so it’s on European success that its gaze is especially trained.

Given that it’s had little difficulty winning Scudetto after Scudetto, it’s been easy to look inward, but in doing so it’s struggled to form a sense of itself in a continental context.

That is, until now.

Flying Italian football’s flag while traditional rivals have floundered makes Juventus the only, serious destination for many of the country’s best players, and one of Serie A’s lone suitors for top, foreign talent. That reality informed its identity, and for some time that identity was perhaps perceived as substandard when projected more broadly, such as into the Champions League.

But the team has grown into it, and between now and the Champions League final it’ll be embracing that status — even flaunting it — like never before.

Being the best team in Serie A might not have meant a whole lot during much of this decade, but Juventus is the best team in Serie A, and then some. And it’s taken advantage of the circumstances presented it to define an entire period of Italian football history.

“We have 20 decisive days ahead of us,” remarked Allegri in his pre-derby news conference — 20 days to complete that history, to cement their identity, to win everything in sight.

Spot-kicks

• Sulley Muntari will be able to face Crotone this weekend after all. Issued a booking the last time out against Cagliari, the Pescara midfielder and former Ghana international was set to sit out Saturday’s match until the yellow card was rescinded on appeal. That it even got to that point is incredibly embarrassing for Italian football, as the 32-year-old had been penalized for protesting the fact that he had been racially abused at Stadio Sant’Elia. An Italian Football Federation tribunal even went so far as to downplay the incident. In the end the correct decision was made, but once again Italian football’s uncomfortable association with racism was revealed for all to see.

• Serie A is home to one of the better goal-scoring races in European football. Going into Matchday 35 both Andrea Belotti of Torino and Edin Dzeko of Roma are on 25 goals, with Inter Milan’s Mauro Icardi just one back. Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain has found the back of the net on 23 occasions this season, and Napoli’s Dries Mertens on 22. Belotti, the youngest of the quintet at 23 years of age, is considered among the top young forwards in the sport, and both Chelsea and Manchester United have been linked to a move for him within a past few days.

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