On the back of five Serie A titles in a row, three Italian supercups and two Coppa Italia wins, Juventus are riding high.
Throwing their weight around on the transfer market also unexpectedly happened this summer. A rather unusual €94m splashed out on Gonzalo Higuain, €32 on Miralem Pjanic and €25 on hot Croatian prospect Marko Pjaca.
This was obviously aided by the departure of star midfielder Paul Pogba for a massive €105 million in this summer’s blockbuster move to Manchester United.
Squad strength
The spending spree was unusual. Juventus have always maintained a transfer market ethic of spend what you earn rather than ‘spend spend spend’. A number of players and club officials have also declared to the press that this year ambitions are high.
Perhaps the most glaring message out of the Juventus camp for the last three months is the intent to mount a serious challenge for the UEFA Champions League.
Guess what though, I think this time, they are serious.
Top management intent
Transfer market aside, it has always been known that Juventus’ ambitions were first and foremost local. The Serie A, is indeed, Juventus’ core.
The five titles in a row prove commitment to honouring this cup. What we have noticed though is a certain message coming across all channels that Juventus is really after a European Cup win.
May 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of Juventus’ last taste of European glory. Paired with the management’s commitment to gift Gianluigi Buffon with a Champions League trophy is the fact that Juventus seem to have covered every position of the field with star power and pace.
A close shave in 2015 against Barcelona in a high tempo final has left Juventus hungrier than ever.
The manager
Juventus’ starting line-up is nothing short of impressive. Antonio Conte, who has since moved to the English Premier League, started a cycle and Massimiliano Allegri hopes to be the manager to finish off the process.
The prediction
Could this be Juventus’ year? Anything short of a semi-final will be a huge let down for the club. A win would be gold. The club is ready but as everyone may know, being great doesn’t always guarantee wins.
Luck of the draw, match episodes and many external factors come in to play but Juventus are strong enough. I think it is their year.
dan
Guest
replacing pogba for higuin is not an improvment. every player on thier defence is 1 year older! including bufon, which is very old 38! sorry but there is too much presure on dibala to outperform himself, and be the new suarez
Rellum
Roar Guru
Ask any Roma fan about Pjanic and you wont hear him being described as consistent. Great with the dead ball though.
Mark
Guest
You won't have to worry about Villareal. Knocked out by Monaco this morning.
MadMax Allegri
Guest
For the first time since the team returned to Champions League action (2012/13), I feel as though it has got what it takes to make a push for European glory. Even in 2014/15 when Juve reached the final, I didn't quite see that squad as the finished product. While Pogba has departed, there have been reinforcements all across the pitch and the squad depth is better than ever - as illustrated by the fact that Pjanic and Higuain both began on the bench against Fiorentina. We will miss Pogba's outrageous moments of inspiration but may gain more in consistency, accuracy and set piece threat with Pjanic. I still feel a good attacking midfielder is missing - won't be giving names as none of them seem affordable, will just point out that I'm not enthused by the mentions of Matuidi or even Cuadrado. My biggest doubt however will be up front. Morata wasn't a prolific scorer but he could be relied upon to open the deadlock in tightly contested Champions League games. Higuain seems to be the very opposite: brilliant against mid-table league opposition, a burden when you have to face Bayern Munich or even Villarreal. This has been a pattern throughout his career even when he was at Real Madrid. Can he finally rise to the occasion? Or at worst can Mandzukic recover the kind of form that saw him score decisive goals in Bayern Munich's Champions League success of 2013? In any case Juventus as of today seem to be in a much better position than a year ago and that's quite a feat when you've just lost Morata and Pogba.
Mark
Guest
Of course any tie between them would be close. That's just my subjective view. I might be wrong. The player who scored 2 goals for Juve against Madrid is now playing for Madrid (for the moment, at least).
SM
Guest
They knocked out Real Madrid two years ago, and should done the same to Bayern last year. Not sure where you get the idea they are incapable of taking it up to those three clubs.
Mark
Guest
They are a good side and will romp home in the Serie A. In Europe, it will take a top team to beat them, but I don't think they are capable of beating Barca, Madrid or Bayern. They will last in Europe until the draw puts them against one of those teams.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Given Roma's pathetic performance this morning I was thinking that the result would make it diffucult for Juve to win in the UCL because Roma can now challenge them in Serie A. But Juve is so far ahead of the rest of Serie A they should be able to coast to the title whilst focusing on Europe unfortunately.