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Juventus are undoubtedly the kings of Italy. Continuing their eight-year Serie A stranglehold, the Bianconeri sealed their ninth consecutive Scudetto win last season, albeit by huffing and puffing past the finish line in a COVID-19-ravaged campaign.
With the competition growing stronger each year, the Nerazzurri finished just one point behind the league champions but that was only after Juventus eased off after sealing a record-extending 36th Serie A title with three games to spare. To put the Bianconeri's title haul in perspective, the next two successful clubs in Serie A (AC Milan-18, Inter Milan-18) have together won as many titles in the competition as Juventus have done so alone.
The Bianconeri are two clear of Real Madrid in the list of most league titles in Europe's top five football divisions after Los Blancos won their first La Liga title in three years.
Five reasons why Juventus are unlikely to ease their Serie A stranglehold
Juventus, not surprisingly, have a slew of records in the Italian top flight. The Bianconeri have scored the most goals (5167) and registered the most points in a season (102).
They are also the only team to go unbeaten through a 20-league Serie A season (2011-12) and have the most wins overall (1623) and most wins in a season (33), among other records. On that note, let us have a look at why Juventus' domestic dominance is likely to continue in 2020-21 as well.
#1 Title-winning pedigree
Juventus have a plethora of players who have had experience of multiple Serie A-winning campaigns.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has won ten Scudettos with the Bianconeri. The central defensive pair of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci has won nine Serie A titles apiece, with Bonucci doing so for two different clubs (Inter-1, Juventus-8). The quintet of Daniele Rugani, Juan Cuadrado, Sami Khedira, Alex Sandro and Paulo Dybala have all won five Serie A titles each.
Buffon played second fiddle to first-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after returning from Paris St. Germain, and Chiellini missed large swathes of the season but not before becoming the first Juventus player to play at least one game in each of the club's nine consecutive Serie A-winning seasons.
The likes of Bonucci, Cuadrado, Sandro and Dybala, who played key roles in Juventus' victorious campaign and are expected to do so again this season, have more Serie A titles than either of the two Milan clubs. That is a massive title-winning pedigree to have in a squad.
Juventus do not have as much replenishment to their squad in the ongoing transfer window as some of their title rivals. However, the Bianconeri have enough personnel with the experience and pedigree of winning league titles that is rivalled by very few teams across the five top leagues in Europe, something that is worth its weight in gold when title races tend to go down to the wire.
#2: The Cristiano Ronaldo factor
Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Juventus in the summer of 2018 after a hugely successful nine-year stint in Real Madrid. The Portugal captain had a modest debut Serie A campaign, scoring 'only' 21 goals but it was only the proverbial calm before the storm.
Last season, playing in his 1000th professional match for club and country, Ronaldo belied his 35 years of age to score in a record-equalling 11th consecutive Serie A game en route to finishing five goals adrift of 36-goal Capocannoniere winner, Ciro Immobile.
During that campaign, Ronaldo became the first player to score 50 goals in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A to announce his arrival on the Italian scene, if he had not done so already.
Ronaldo's 31 goals constituted almost 50% of Juventus' 76 Serie A goals during the 2019-20 season, with the Bianconeri not losing 21 of 25 games when the Portuguese maestro found the back of the net.
After becoming the first European player to score 100 international goals, Ronaldo returns to Serie A ready to continue from where he left off last season. His singular goal-threat can be ignored at one's own peril. Serie A defences have been suitably warned.
#3 Juventus' home fortress
The Bianconeri hate losing a Serie A game at home. During their nine consecutive Serie A title-winning seasons, Juventus have lost on a miserly six occasions at home while racking up a staggering tally of 143 wins (out of a possible 171). In five of these nine campaigns, the Bianconeri did not lose a home game.
To put these numbers into perspective, the corresponding second-placed team during this period have cumulatively conjured 14 losses at home (Napoli - five in five seasons, AS Roma - five in three seasons, AC Milan - two in one season and Inter Milan - two in one season).
Juventus' 1-3 defeat to AS Roma on the last day of the 2019-20 season was their first Serie A home loss in 40 games since losing by a solitary goal to Napoli in 2017-18.
During their nine title-winning seasons, Juventus won 108 games on the road (out of a possible 171). In the same period, the respective second-placed team's cumulative away wins tally read 100 (43 by Napoli in 4 seasons, 32 by Roma in 3 seasons, 12 by Milan in one season and 13 by Inter Milan in one season). In a tactical league like the Serie A, it's a significant difference.
The ability to absorb pressure exerted by home teams in front of partisan crowds and to eke out favourable results is something that Juventus have excelled at better than any other team during this period. That is unlikely to change this season.
Away wins set up Juventus' title charge. Home wins complement the same and steer the team over the line. It's been a trusted template of success for the Bianconeri, and one they are unlikely to dither away from.
If Juventus manage to improve their away form (they lost as many as six games on the road last season) and continue their reputation of being stingy hosts, there could be no stopping them from winning a tenth consecutive Scudetto.
#4 The Andrea Pirlo factor
Juventus' desperation to win the Champions League has cost the jobs of their last two Serie A-winning managers, with club legend Andrea Pirlo handed over the reins of the team to end the Bianconeri's 25-year title drought in the competition.
The decision to appoint Pirlo was met with a mix of incredulity by the Juventus faithful, and there was good reason for the same.
In terms of managerial experience, the 41-year-old is an absolute greenhorn. He has zero experience in managing a top-tier team. In fact, Pirlo spent just ten days as the manager of Juventus' U23 team before being elevated to the Bianconeri top job.
The six-time Serie A winner has a wealth of experience in the Serie A as a player, but management is an entirely different ball game. However, that could be beneficial to Juventus' Serie A title hopes as Pirlo will start on a clean slate.
Twelve years ago, a certain Pep Guardiola, with little to no managerial experience, was appointed the manager of Barcelona, and what followed next was an era of unprecedented success and dominance by the Catalan club.
While Pirlo may not do a Guardiola with Juventus, he certainly has a capable core group of players like Ronaldo, Dybala, Cuadrado and Bonucci to start with. If the Bianconeri manage to bring in a few new players during the ongoing transfer window and Pirlo exhibits the same pragmatism as manager that he did so as a player, Juventus could unearth a winning formula that could lead them to both domestic and continental success.
#5 Arrival of Arthur Melo
In a swap deal involving Miralem Pjanic, 24-year-old Arthur Melo of Barcelona has been acquired by Juventus this summer.
It looks like a better deal for the Bianconeri than it is for Barcelona as the Bianconeri have acquired the services of a young talented player who could serve the club for quite some time if he manages to find his feet.
Arthur is renowned for his ball-control and dribbling skills, and his versatility allows him to be deployed in various roles like a deep-lying playmaker, central midfielder, box-to-box midfielder and a holding midfielder.
Though Pjanic and Arthur are both central midfielders, the Brazilian could offer something different to the Bianconeri than they have experienced with the Bosnia and Montenegro international.
Arthur averaged 3.11 tackles per 90 last season compared to Pjanic's 1.34 and offers more creativity and attacking thrust, something that could come in handy in unlocking tight defences, as is usually the case in Serie A.
While it remains to be seen how Pirlo will use the young Brazilian, he looks like a good investment. Arthur is almost assured of a place in the Juventus starting XI, something that was not the case at Barcelona.
Arthur's dribbling prowess and ability to keep the ball at the centre of the park could mean that the Juventus attackers wouldn't have to drop back too often and could, instead, stay in forward areas to receive the ball, which would likely mean more goal-scoring opportunities for the likes of Ronaldo and Dybala.
With Arthur pulling the strings from midfield, Juventus may carry a more potent threat up front, something that could be key for the Bianconeri to win a tenth consecutive Scudetto.
