Serie A 2020-21: 5 reasons why Juventus could win a 10th consecutive Scudetto this season
Juventus are undoubtedly the kings of Italy. Continuing their eight-year Serie A stranglehold, the Bianconeri sealed their ninth consecutive Scudetto win last season, albeit by huffing and puffing past the finish line in a COVID-19-ravaged campaign.
With the competition growing stronger each year, the Nerazzurri finished just one point behind the league champions but that was only after Juventus eased off after sealing a record-extending 36th Serie A title with three games to spare. To put the Bianconeri's title haul in perspective, the next two successful clubs in Serie A (AC Milan-18, Inter Milan-18) have together won as many titles in the competition as Juventus have done so alone.
The Bianconeri are two clear of Real Madrid in the list of most league titles in Europe's top five football divisions after Los Blancos won their first La Liga title in three years.
Five reasons why Juventus are unlikely to ease their Serie A stranglehold
Juventus, not surprisingly, have a slew of records in the Italian top flight. The Bianconeri have scored the most goals (5167) and registered the most points in a season (102).
They are also the only team to go unbeaten through a 20-league Serie A season (2011-12) and have the most wins overall (1623) and most wins in a season (33), among other records. On that note, let us have a look at why Juventus' domestic dominance is likely to continue in 2020-21 as well.
#1 Title-winning pedigree
Juventus have a plethora of players who have had experience of multiple Serie A-winning campaigns.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has won ten Scudettos with the Bianconeri. The central defensive pair of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci has won nine Serie A titles apiece, with Bonucci doing so for two different clubs (Inter-1, Juventus-8). The quintet of Daniele Rugani, Juan Cuadrado, Sami Khedira, Alex Sandro and Paulo Dybala have all won five Serie A titles each.
Buffon played second fiddle to first-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after returning from Paris St. Germain, and Chiellini missed large swathes of the season but not before becoming the first Juventus player to play at least one game in each of the club's nine consecutive Serie A-winning seasons.
The likes of Bonucci, Cuadrado, Sandro and Dybala, who played key roles in Juventus' victorious campaign and are expected to do so again this season, have more Serie A titles than either of the two Milan clubs. That is a massive title-winning pedigree to have in a squad.
Juventus do not have as much replenishment to their squad in the ongoing transfer window as some of their title rivals. However, the Bianconeri have enough personnel with the experience and pedigree of winning league titles that is rivalled by very few teams across the five top leagues in Europe, something that is worth its weight in gold when title races tend to go down to the wire.
#2: The Cristiano Ronaldo factor
Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Juventus in the summer of 2018 after a hugely successful nine-year stint in Real Madrid. The Portugal captain had a modest debut Serie A campaign, scoring 'only' 21 goals but it was only the proverbial calm before the storm.
Last season, playing in his 1000th professional match for club and country, Ronaldo belied his 35 years of age to score in a record-equalling 11th consecutive Serie A game en route to finishing five goals adrift of 36-goal Capocannoniere winner, Ciro Immobile.
During that campaign, Ronaldo became the first player to score 50 goals in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A to announce his arrival on the Italian scene, if he had not done so already.
Ronaldo's 31 goals constituted almost 50% of Juventus' 76 Serie A goals during the 2019-20 season, with the Bianconeri not losing 21 of 25 games when the Portuguese maestro found the back of the net.
After becoming the first European player to score 100 international goals, Ronaldo returns to Serie A ready to continue from where he left off last season. His singular goal-threat can be ignored at one's own peril. Serie A defences have been suitably warned.