The 2014-15 campaign has already been a superb one for Juventus, absorbing the loss of Antonio Conte in the summer far more easily than anyone imagined possible, before moving to the brink of a fourth consecutive Serie A title and reaching the final of the Coppa Italia.
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In Europe the team has finally shaken the inexplicable group stage exit last term to now have a Champions League quarter-final clash with AS Monaco looming large. Indeed, analysing the season as a whole, there is little doubt that – after taking a huge gamble on the appointment of Max Allegri – the Turin giants are now playing with house money for the rest of the year.
A domestic double would add weight to the growing feeling that the former AC Milan boss has achieved something truly remarkable in his debut campaign with the Bianconeri. However, the question remains whether this team can taste even greater glory and go on to win the Champions League this season?
The question at first seems somewhat fanciful and far-fetched, but the current era has seen a number of unheralded clubs do just that, surprising the continent’s finest teams by winning the elite club competition despite lacking the resources of their peers.
“Juventus can beat anyone. No team is out of reach. None.” – Carlos Tevez when asked by @repubblicait if club can win the Champions League
— Adam Digby (@Adz77) April 13, 2015
While Italian football’s grand Old Lady needs little introduction, the impact of the Calciopoli scandal and Serie A’s fall from grace have left her trailing behind the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, both on and off the field.
According to Deloitte’s most recent Money League – which uses publicly available accounts to rank the revenues of the biggest clubs – tenth-placed Juventus (Dhs 909 million/€233.6m) registered income that was almost half that of leaders Real Madrid (Dhs1.925billion/€459.5m). That obviously makes a subsequent impact on their ability to attract the world’s best players, with a vast difference in the transfer budget and wage bill.
Yet that did not prevent Inter Milan and Porto from unexpectedly lifting ‘the cup with the big ears’ over the last decade, and it is those examples that mean any team who reaches this stage of the competition can rightfully dream of victory. Last week, La Gazzetta dello Sport suggested much the same, discussing a possible treble for the Bianconeri under the bold proclamation “you can do it!”. A number of the club’s former players have also openly backed Juve to do just that.
“A treble? You can do it!” this morning’s @Gazzetta_it tells @juventusfcen #IoCiCredo pic.twitter.com/Xcae9fD9Ok
— Adam Digby (@Adz77) April 9, 2015
“I think they have the players to get to the semi-finals,” said retired midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi, himself part of the Juve side which won the Champions League under Marcello Lippi in 1996. “Then you need the best players, [Andrea] Pirlo has to be at 100 percent, [Arturo] Vidal at 100 percent, [Carlos] Tevez at 100 percent and [Paul] Pogba at 100 percent. If that happens, why not?”
It is the form and ability of those players which allows for those hopes to hang in the air, with their midfield quartet comfortably among Europe’s finest and Tevez in truly devastating form. His goalscoring record may not compare favourably with the exploits of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but the Argentinean has weighed in with 25 goals and eight assists in 35 appearances this term. That tally includes not only a raft of match-winning goals in Serie A, but no fewer than six Champions League goals, three of which coming in their 5-1 aggregate win over 2012 finalists Borussia Dortmund.
That result has only added to the belief that this team could be on the brink of something extraordinary, but it must be tempered with the realistic view that they are still trailing the elite clubs by some distance. For all the superiority they have enjoyed at home – and the huge improvements made since narrowly losing to Atletico Madrid back in October – it would not be surprising to see their hopes extinguished at the Allianz Arena or the Bernabeu, should they overcome AS Monaco.
In short, Juventus certainly can win the Champions League if all their stars perform and fortune favours them, but whether or not captain Gigi Buffon finally gets to lift the European Cup remains to be seen.
