Juventus renaissance tees up title showdown
TURNING a negative into a positive. It sounds like something Juventus were accused of last season as the Italian football federation took 10 points off them for artificially inflating transfer revenue.
This season the phrase has taken on a whole new meaning. Banned from European football for one year by UEFA, they have thrived without the distraction.
They are on a run of 19 games without defeat and if they win at leaders Inter Milan tomorrow they will replace them at the top of Serie A, just as their bitter rivals go into a gruelling Champions League last-16 tie against Atletico Madrid.
Juventus disappeared down the rabbit hole of creative accounting in part because they had run out of money. Remember they signed Cristiano Ronaldo for £99million in 2018 and it cost them £73.4m a year, wages included, to keep him for three seasons.
In January 2022 they were still investing extravagantly with the £66.6m signing of Dusan Vlahovic and for 18 months it looked like money badly spent.
Not any more. The Serbian striker, 24, has scored 12 goals in 20 league games this term, including seven in his last six. He has hit top form just in time for the biggest game of the season.
Vlahovic has worked hard to improve. He has scored more with his weaker right foot than his left this season. There have been three headers and a direct free-kick and, if he had not missed two penalties, he would be even closer to Serie A’s top scorer, Lautaro Martinez, whom Vlahovic faces tomorrow.
This is Juve’s big problem as they go into a game they must win — player for player, Inter look marginally the better team.
Martinez, 26, took his tally to 19 in 19 games last weekend by scoring the only goal in Inter’s win at Fiorentina.
Even in the dugout, Inter can’t be trumped. Juventus have the calm-under-pressure Max Allegri but Inter have the sensible stewardship of super-cool Simone Inzaghi, who gave his players two days off this week. Never mind the Derby d’Italia (‘Derby of Italy’) and likely title decider, Inzaghi had noticed they looked tired in Sunday’s victory and sent them home to relax.
Inter lost Andre Onana, Marcelo Brozovic and Romelu Lukaku last summer but are missing none of them. They signed Marcus Thuram, son of Juventus legend Lilian, and with Martinez he has formed one of Europe’s best attacking partnerships.
In midfield, former Manchester United man Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been almost ever-present, providing two goals and seven assists from midfield. He is a leader in the dressing room, too.
Inter are only two points off the tally managed by runaway champions Napoli at this stage last season. That Juventus have stayed with them is to their huge credit. Unity and squad harmony have been the key.
With Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli banned for doping and betting offences respectively, they have long since recognised a shortage in midfield, but Allegri vetoed any attempt to go for what would have been a high-profile capture of Jordan Henderson or Kalvin Phillips in January. The club signed Carlos Alcaraz from Southampton instead, with Allegri feeling the Argentine, 21, would adapt more quickly.
Juventus also kept London-born Samuel Iling-Junior, 20, despite interest from Monza, who wanted him on loan.
Iling-Junior joined Juventus’s B team from Chelsea in 2020 and did well enough in Italy’s third tier to be promoted to the first team just over a year ago. He has impressed as a substitute, scoring against Salernitana last month, and the England Under 21 left winger should be on the bench at the San Siro tomorrow.
This feels like win or bust for Juventus — it’s the difference between being potentially one point behind Inter after they play their game in hand, or seven.
If it’s the former, they would be well-placed to make the most of the ‘ban dividend’, watching the latter stages of the Champions League on television as Inter fight on two fronts.
Juventus did the double over Inter last season and would have finished one place above them in third had it not been for the 10-point deduction. Beating them tomorrow and then to the title would be the perfect response.