Juventus FC. The Italian powerhouse based in Turin, most successful in Italy since the inception of Italy’s top league- The Serie A since 1929. One of the most laureated and respected clubs, Juventus has a history that the fans tell their grandchildren stories of and boast players like Pavel Nedved , Michel Platini, Zinédine Zidane and David Trezeguet and dozens more. A record twenty-eight league titles, nine Italian cups and five national super cups and, two UEFA Champions Leagues and three UEFA Cups are the few of the fifty-three titles that sees their opponents in utter awe and fear.
Now let’s rewind to six years back. For the first and only time in their history, Juventus FC gets demoted to Serie B due to infamous The “Calciopoli” scandal which saw many first team players leaving the club. The club gets stripped of two titles won under former manager Fabio Capello denying them the ‘3rd star’ on their jersey which would have else denoted 30 Scudetto titles.
And back after a seven year wait for a trophy, the club goes unbeaten throughout the 2011-12 season claiming the title and the national cup under former player and fan favorite Antonio Conte. Prior to this season when Antonio Conte announced the decision of letting Alberto Aquilani and Felipe Melo leave the club in the summer, many eyebrows were raised, “How are they going to cope up without these two?” Indeed, Aquilani and Melo were the only bright spots in an otherwise abominable season for Juventus. Where Aquilani brought elegance and quality, Melo was the steel in their midfield.
Now back to February 2013- the month of the excitement, Champions League knockout stage. And we see a dominant display at the Celtic Park with a 3-0 win over the Hoops that has all but sealed their passage to the next round of the Champions League. They hold a decent 6 point lead in the league with 11 games to go, and it’s not hard to imagine how this team has transformed into Europe’s powerhouses once again in such short time. The team has no star striker to boast of (no offense to Bendtner, Matri and Vucinic, but you have to be realistic) as other Champions League contenders have, so where are the goal supplies coming from?