A first Champions League appearance in 19 years followed Juventus’s first league and Cup double in two decades, but as 2015 comes to a close the reigning kings of Italian football are battling a Serie A backlash.
The Old Lady of Turin won a treble of trophies by the end of last summer with a 31st league title, a 10th Italian Cup and their seventh Italian Super Cup after a 2-0 win over Lazio in Shanghai.
Juve’s bid for a first European crown since 1996, however, was halted in spectacular fashion as Barcelona handed Massimiliano Allegri’s men a footballing masterclass on their way to a 3-1 victory in Berlin.
Albeit humbling, Juve’s presence in the final was a potent symbol of their return to Europe’s elite after 20 years of seeing AC Milan (two), Real Madrid (four), Manchester United (two), Bayern Munich (two) and Barcelona (four) claim multiple trophies since their own 1996 success over Ajax.
After Juventus were humbled 4-0 on aggregate in the 2013 quarterfinals by eventual winners Bayern Munich, former coach Antonio Conte complained it would take the Turin club 20 years to reach the latter stages because of their financial impotence in the face of far richer opponents.
Juventus last won five successive titles in the 1930s with a team that formed the nucleus of Italy’s historic 1934 World Cup-winning squad.
Targetting another treble this season looks more difficult for Allegri’s men after Juve drew Bayern Munich as their last 16 opponents in the Champions League.
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