Antonio Conte has once again led Juventus to Serie A glory, with three games of the season still remaining. A 1-0 win over Palermo, courtesy of a 59th minute penalty by Arturo Vidal, was enough to take the three points required to leave them mathematically safe from second placed Napoli. What next for the champions of Italy?
They may have dropped down to Serie B as part of the Calciopoli match fixing scandal in 2006 but they have certainly come back bigger and better than ever. With a brand new state of the art stadium recently opened, consecutive league titles to their name and a renewed sense of optimism and hope around Turin, now is definitely a great moment in the history of this historic club.
Bayern Munich may have easily beaten them both home and away in the quarter final of the Champions League recently, but even this setback could not dampen the genuine excitement and enthusiasm running through the club. Plans are in place to try and build them back up to where they rightfully belong, at the top of European football, although the financial difficulties encountered by all teams in Serie A is making the task extremely difficult, even for a reputable club such as the ‘La Vecchia Signora’ of Italy.
Although unable to attract the finest talent, like they could do a decade ago, teams like Juventus, Milan and Napoli are starting to develop their own youngsters and are signing relatively unknown players from South America and Africa with the hope of developing them into top quality assets. This idea has worked well so far for Juve, with established and experienced heads like Gigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and Giorgio Chiellini complementing and assisting the likes of Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal, amongst others.
Next season they will try and retain the league title, but Conte will be desperate to go further in European competition. He was part of the last Juventus side to be declared champions of Europe, when they defeated Ajax on penalties in the 1996 final, and no doubt realises that a great many years have passed without the same kind of success or dominance that was once associated with this dominant Italian side. Can they keep up with the big boys of Spain, England and Germany, or have they fallen too far behind to ever catch up?