21 May 2017
Each league title has its own special story. The first Scudetto of this unrelenting winning cycle was achieved against the odds in a new home without losing a single game. A third in succession was the result of 33 league victories and 102 points, both records for Italy’s top flight.
A fifth arrived in a way that no one had ever seen before, recovering from four defeats in the first 10 matches of the campaign to win 26 of the remaining 28, all without conceding a home goal from January to May.
To claw your way back into contention, surge past your rivals and win at a canter at the end of it all is an extraordinary achievement. To maintain that same momentum from week 1 to week 36 of the following season is the stuff of a truly great club. The Bianconeri never let standards slip. Raising them is the only way.
Juventus went top of Serie A with a 4-1 victory over Cagliari on 21 September and they have been there ever since, rarely holding less than a game’s advantage over their closest rivals.
That unassailable lead was first established with a 1-0 win over Roma on 17 December, a win that made them the first team in Serie A history to register 100 points in a single year.
The next piece of history was rewritten within a matter of weeks. In a quirk of the calendar, Bologna became Juve’s 26th consecutive victim at Juventus Stadium in January – having also been the first of this eye-catching streak way back in October 2015 – a tally which now stands definitively at 33 straight home wins, six short of Europe’s all-time record.
The fact that the Old Lady won 25 consecutive league matches at the Stadium more than once is evidence enough of the mystical power of an arena that has known nothing but domestic dominance since its inauguration in September 2011.
To borrow an expression from coach Massimiliano Allegri, this has been the sixth consecutive season in which Juve have got on the bike, kept their heads down and raced themselves to the finish line.
Never looking beyond the next fixture, always pushing to be better than the week before, Sunday after Sunday, title after title.
The above is one of a handful of constants that can explain what has happened since the 2011-12 campaign.
Among them are Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Claudio Marchisio – all in the starting XI for Juventus Stadium’s opening day Parma just under six years ago – and Leonardo Bonucci who himself has gone on to make more appearances than any other outfield player in that time.
Of course, these six now legendary names are all found in the defensive half of the field where at times they have built an unbreachable wall around Buffon’s goal, a truly world-class foundation on which to build a winning team.
Anyone searching for the so-called secret to Juventus’ success will also discover the most beautiful element not only of this illustrious club, but of sport. No individual is ever more important than the collective and few teams embody that better than this one has.
Pair that togetherness and resilience with a relentless winning mentality both on and off the field and you may be part way there. Fino Alla Fine, beginning as a chant, is now not only a motto but the identity of the entire football club. This team fights until the very end and just where that end will be after six consecutive Scudetto titles is anyone’s guess.
A lot can happen in six years but when it comes to Juventus and winning, some things never change.
