Juve return to Europe's top table in Champions League final

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  • Shooting for the stars: Juventus.

    There was a time not too long ago when the presence of Juventus in the latter stages of European football’s elite competition was a given.

    “When we first played in the Champions League they were the top team,” Manchester United star Ryan Giggs once said, “they were who we were aspiring to be like.”

    With the Bianconeri reaching three consecutive finals in the mid-1990s, it is easy to see why the Welshman felt that way but, just three years after adding another appearance in 2003’s showpiece event, the Turin giants would suffer what appeared to be a fatal blow.

    Indeed, as the national team was marching its way to the World Cup final in Germany, a huge scandal was erupting on the peninsula. Hours of recorded telephone conversations placed the club’s then director general Luciano Moggi at the centre of what came to be known as ‘Calciopoli’, a stunning tale of corruption and bribery which shook the Italian game to its core.

    Often discussed as matchfixing, it was an ingrained system of influence-pedaling among the power brokers of the game and – while Milan, Fiorentina and Inter were clearly heavily involved – it was Juventus who suffered most.

    Moggi’s actions saw the club relegated to the second tier for the first and only time in their history. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Patrick Vieira and others fled, but five men – four who had just played in the World Cup final – would secure an eternal place in the hearts of Juventini across the globe.

    Dubbed ‘The Samurai’, Alessandro Del Piero, Gigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet, and Mauro Camoranesi opted to accept a responsibility they could quite easily have declined, staying to ensure the Turin giants returned to their rightful place as quickly as possible.

    They did so in a single season, winning the Serie B title at a canter, and followed that up by securing a Champions League berth the very next year.

    Yet from there the club was badly mismanaged, wasting countless millions on ill-fitting players, with many of them unable to grasp what it meant to represent Italian football’s grand Old Lady.

    After slumping to two consecutive seventh-place finishes, Andrea Agnelli was installed as club president, following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, both of whom had been in charge during Juve’s most dominant periods.

    Former skipper Antonio Conte was appointed as coach in time for the 2011/12 season – with the club simultaneously moving to the brand new Juventus Stadium. There they marched undefeated to their first league title of the post-Calciopoli era, but were thoroughly outclassed by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, going on to crash out in the group stage 12 months later.

    Conte bemoaned a lack of financial strength, saying that “you cannot eat in a €100 restaurant with only €10 in your pocket,” before surprisingly resigning last July.

    Max Allegri was named his successor and his impact has been nothing short of sensational. Just as Marcello Lippi did two decades earlier, he has led the side to a league and cup double in his first season, and is now just 90 minutes away from an unthinkable treble.

    Their run has echoes of the Italy team which lifted the World Cup at the same stadium where Juve will face Barcelona tonight.

    “That is what is on the table,” Lippi said nine years ago, “we have the fork in our hand and let’s see what happens.” 

    After nine years of an arduous but unforgettable journey, the Old Lady has finally rediscovered her appetite.

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