Juventus Assembling a Champions League Winning Team

The 35-times Serie A champions who have been sitting at the top of Italian football for 8 straight years ended the 2018/19 season with disappointing faces once more. While some teams would be happy with winning domestic league, Juventus wants only one thing, which is the Champions League title, which has been avoiding them for the past 23 years. Failing to lift the most prestigious trophy for the 23rd year in a row, Juventus have decided for drastic changes in hopes for a better 2019/20 season.

New head coach of Juventus Maurizio Sarri and president Andrea Agnelli
TURIN, ITALY – JUNE 20: (L-R) New head coach of Juventus Maurizio Sarri and president Andrea Agnelli inspect the pitch during the visit at Allianz Stadium on June 20, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)

At the start of 2018/19 season, Juventus shook the world by signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, who was supposed to play a key role in Juventus’ plan to finally lift the Champions League trophy. As a player who has won the Champions League 5 times in his career, he was the man to help Juventus do the same. The expectations were high, in fact, they were very high, which can be summed up by Cristiano Ronaldo’s statement, saying he wants to win “everything with Juventus”. But things did not go as planned for Juventus, who got knocked out from the competition by Ajax in the quarter-finals, which once again resulted in their premature exit from the competition.

TURIN, ITALY – MAY 19: Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus in action during the Serie A match between Juventus and Atalanta BC on May 19, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images)

Yet another disappointing performance in the Champions League pushed Juventus to drastic measures. They have already assembled a strong team that strikes fear in any other club in the world, but it was not enough. All that was left to change was their head coach. Juventus decided it was time to wave goodbye to Massimiliano Allegri who has been with the “The Old Lady” for the past 5 years. During his 5 year spell with Juventus, Allegri managed to win 5 league titles, 4 Coppa Italia, 2 Supercoppa titles (3x runner-up) and even managed to finish 2nd in the Champions League twice. By many standards, an incredibly successful record simply was not enough for Juventus, who will not settle for anything less than perfection i.e. Champions League title. Juventus felt like the perfect man to replace Massimiliano Allegri was Maurizio Sarri, who was appointed as a new coach of “The Old Lady” on June 16th. While Sarri never managed to win the Champions League in his career as a coach, he did bring Chelsea to their 2nd Europa League title after 6 years long dry spell, which was enough to persuade Juventus that Sarri is the right man for the job.

But it does not stop there for Juventus. Doing their best to get ready for the 2019/20 season, the Italian champions set their eyes on Matthijs De Ligt, who according to the most recent reports is extremely close to joining Ronaldo in what seems like to be the next European powerhouse. In addition, Juventus also already landed Aaron Ramsey from Arsenal, who will wear number 8 in his new team. And to top it all off, Juventus official site suggested they might also land Paul Pogba this summer, who has reportedly stated he would prefer Juventus over Real Madrid as his next destination. 

Meanwhile, the legendary Italian goalkeeper and a Juventus legend, Gianluigi Buffon has been heavily linked with his return back to his old club Juventus after announcing refusing to extend his contract.

With two big names surrounding Juventus this transfer window, new coach and huge ambitions for the next season, Juventus look like they are more than ready to face off against world’s best in 2019/20 season. While winning the Champions League is not an easy task for any team, no matter their star power, Juventus surely are moving in the right direction to finally lift their 2nd UCL trophy and the first one of the 21st century.

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