The impending busy eight days of international action and the arrival of Serie A at its 30-match mark over the weekend represent the ideal moment to sit back and take stock of the campaign so far.
With the Bianconeri currently three points clear of closest challengers Napoli with eight fixtures remaining, Juventus.com takes a closer look at the numbers that explain their charge to the top and how Massimiliano Allegri’s men compare to the rest of the league as the season approaches its dramatic conclusion.
While it would be Gianluigi Buffon and his defensive colleagues rightly claiming the headlines in recent weeks for breaking the Serie A record for minutes without conceding – a total that now stands at 973 – the following figures will show that it has been a team effort to claw Juve back into the Scudetto driving seat…
SERIE A RANKINGS
Before delving into any kind of detail, it is worth taking a quick look at the only table that will truly matter come 15 May:
As it happens though, the overall league standings are not the only rankings to be topped by Juve with three-quarters of the campaign already completed.
Buffon was quick to credit his team-mates on discussing his record-breaking run and the figures provided by Opta back up the skipper’s humility and awareness of the work put in by the Bianconeri collectively as a defensive unit.
The secret behind the champions’ impenetrable backline has been the ability to prevent their opponents from even taking shots at goal: not only have Allegri’s charges let slip the fewest goals this season (16), they have also conceded the fewest shots on target (251) and seem unlikely to be caught by closest contenders Fiorentina (277) and Napoli (280).
With such a solid rearguard as insurance, Juve’s forward players have been given the license to express themselves in the final third, completing more dribbles (419) than any other team, with Inter back in second on a distant total of 353, and are bettered only by Napoli for attempted efforts on goal (471 vs. 521).
Unsurprisingly, the Bianconeri, Partenopei and Viola are also vying for dominance in the possession stakes, with the latter two narrowly pipping Juve’s total of 13,282 completed passes so far this term.
THE KEY MEN
Paulo Dybala and Paul Pogba, meanwhile, both feature prominently in individual rankings for dribbling, crossing and chances created. The former is second only to fellow countryman and international colleague Gonzalo Higuain in the scoring charts, shares third place with Milan’s Giacomo Bonaventura for chances created (63) and finds himself in the top five for crosses delivered (166).
Following the Argentine with creative contributions from midfield, Pogba tops the team rankings for attempted efforts on goal (97) and for those that test the goalkeeper (31) yet once again finds Napoli’s Higuain ahead of him, the ex-Real Madrid forward leading the way on both counts.
The Frenchman’s game is not only limited to his attacking contributions, his 213 recovered possessions this year placing him comfortably in the top ten for the division as a whole.
Juve’s prime passer however is not to be found in midfield but in the back three: no one in a black and white shirt (and only four other players in Serie A) can match Leonardo Bonucci’s 1,590 successful passes this term.
Needless to say, a well-earned rest awaits Allegri’s men.