The Italian Serie A has stood for a long time as one of the best leagues in Europe, although over the past few years we have seen a change at the top, and the league has become less competitive. As a couple of the old guard have slipped away, Juventus seem to have been the only team moving in the right direction, widening the gap between them and the opposition.
This has led to them winning the title for the past seven seasons in a row, showing utter dominance and no mercy for the other teams in Italy. On top of that, they’ve also won the Coppa Italia for the past four seasons, giving them a domestic double. While they are already out of the Coppa Italia this season, so they can’t win it again, the latest Serie A betting has them at 1/20000 to win the league again, showing it is only a matter of time before their name is written on the Serie A trophy for the 35th time.
While ever a team is capable of dominating like this, it is not good for the league itself. The other teams have to somehow find a way to catch Juventus up and compete with them, although with the gap that is currently visible, that seems a long way off right now. This also poses a problem for Juventus too, and that is how to measure their season. What constitutes success for Juventus in this age of dominance, and what can they do to improve.
After winning the domestic double for the past four seasons, they are not going to do that this season as they are out of the Coppa Italia. Does that mean this season has been a failure for them? It appears as though they have just one area where they can measure their success now, and that is in Europe.
Despite domestic dominance, Juventus wanted more during the summer and splashed the cash to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to the club, a move that widened the gap even further between them and their Serie A opponents. However, it wasn’t to help them win Serie A that Ronaldo was bought for, he was bought to bring the Champions League trophy back to Italy.
Juventus have not managed to win the Champions League during their dominant spell, but have finished runners up twice in 2015 and 2017. You have to go back to 1996 to find the last time they won the Champions League, and the club thought that was simply not good enough.
Ronaldo has won the Champions League with Real Madrid in four of the last five season, so he knows a thing or two about lifting that trophy. With him on board, it is the Champions League or bust for Juventus. No longer can they rely on racking up the domestic titles, to see real success at the club they have to win the Champions League, it is what the fans want, and what the club needs to be seen as one of the European greats once again.
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