Has there been a poorer Juventus side than this? Antonio Labbate delves into the calcio archives in search of an answer:
They were talking about the addition of a controversial third star on their jerseys at Juventus earlier this season. Now, with only nine games of the campaign to go and with just one objective left to play for, the club are on the verge of making negative history.
Is this the worst Bianconeri side ever?
The Scudetto and the Champions League were the targets last August. Despite the inexperience of then boss Ciro Ferrara, the club were highly fancied to be Inter’s most serious challenger when it came to the title after a big summer spending spree.
Indeed, a 2-1 victory over the Nerazzurri in Week 15 seemed to confirm just as much before their 4-1 capitulation at home to Bayern Munich ended their European Cup dreams. And as the defeats mounted up, Juventus’ objectives became smaller and smaller – second place, third place and now just fourth with no Europa League triumph as a bonus.
Comparisons with Gigi Maifredi’s under-achievers of 1990-91 have understandably been rife. The former Bologna tactician was brought in to deliver champagne football, the perfect tonic to take on Milan and Napoli who had dominated the season before.
Maifredi’s vintage didn’t exactly sparkle. Despite a strike force of Italia ’90 heroes Roberto Baggio and Toto Schillaci, Juventus lost out in the semi-finals of the Cup-Winners Cup and finished seventh in Serie A – thus seeing them miss out on European competition for the first time in over 20 years.
However, it would be inaccurate, statistically at least, to equate this Juventus side to that one of two decades ago. Although Serie A was two teams lighter at the start of the 1990s,
Maifredi’s boys only conceded 32 goals in 34 games compared to the 40 already given away in 29 League fixtures.
Gigi’s failures also ended that campaign with 10 League defeats, the current number of reverses which this Juve have acquired, but only three of them were at home whereas the Olimpico has already played host to five beatings this time around.
Unfortunately for the Old Lady, they are now drawing comparisons with the disastrous 1961-62 outfit which finished up that campaign in 12th place. Bossed by firstly Julius Korostelev and then Carlo Parola, they lost a club record 15 League games and 19 in all competitions – shipping 70 goals. This Juve has lost 14 up until this point and conceded 55.
In fact, the present day Juve have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 16 games.
Should their rearguard be perforated again against Napoli on Thursday and versus Atalanta at the weekend and they will equal another unwanted record – the 18 game streak of Aldo Olivieri’s 1954-55 side.
There will be no third star at the end of May,
but this is a Juventus side which could potentially enter the history books for all the wrong reasons. A season to forget? It’ll be one which will be painfully remembered.
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So can we call this Juve, the worst Juve in history yet
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