Juventus and Italy - One of football's great love stories

BARI, ITALY – JULY 21: Miko Vucinic of Juventus celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the match between AC Milan and FC Juventus as part of the TIM preseason tournament at Stadio San Nicola on July 21, 2012 in Bari, Italy.

There have been numerous cases of romanticization when it comes to football, with the bond between the fans and the club being the most glorified of such romanticizations. However, there are even more interesting affairs (no, I am not talking about the ones involving John Terry) between a national football team and the premier club of that country. The immediate names that come to our mind in this regard would be Barcelona and Spain and Bayern Munich and the Germans. Looking further, a seasoned eye would unearth the special bond between Juventus and the Italian national team.

The Bianconeri and the Azzurri have their histories entwined together. Juventus hold the distinction of being the most successful Italian club, besides being owned continuously by the Agnelli family since 1923. To many Italians, The Old Lady is beyond just a footballing institution. It stands for the Italian culture and tradition.

The stand-out point when it comes to Juventus has been that Italian nationals in their squad make up the bulk of the team. This has been the tradition ever since they were formed. This is of even more significant when compared with the case of their greatest rivals Inter Milan, whose starting eleven in their Champions league final win over Bayern Munich in 2010 did not contain a single Italian. Compare this to the regular Juventus starting line up in the 2011-12 seasons, which had almost 8 Italians in it.

KIEV, UKRAINE – JULY 01: Gianluigi Buffon of Italy applauds the fans following defeat in the UEFA EURO 2012 final match between Spain and Italy at the Olympic Stadium on July 1, 2012 in Kiev, Ukraine.

But then, the numbers in the starting line up only reveal half the story. Take the Italian team at the Euros. More than a third of the 23-man squad was made up of Juventus players, with six Juve players starting the final. So it is no surprise that their strong season (an understatement considering they went undefeated in the league) coincided with Italy finishing runner-up at the European Championships.

In fact, it is more than just a coincidence, if we analyse the triumphs of the Italian national team over the years. The 1982 World Cup-winning Italian squad had in it Giovanni Trapattoni (the same man who managed the Green bus parked by the Irish in Poland and Ukraine), who led a Juventus team which won four league titles in six years beginning from the 1980-81 season.  The starting line up in the 1982 final had six Juventus players in it, including Italy’s captain Dino Zoff and their talisman Paolo Rossi. Similarly, the 1938 edition which Italy won had nine Juventus players in the squad and this triumph came during a time when Juventus won five league titles on the bounce.

Juventus were influential in the 2006 Italian triumph as well, with back-to-back league wins under Capello in 2005 and 2006 (later rescinded because of the Calciopoli scandal). It is clear from such facts that any successful period witnessed by Juventus breathes life into the Italian national squad: a perfect relationship!

Cynics would point to the Calciopoli scandal involving Juventus, but such hiccups are part and parcel of any romance.

Forget about the 30’s or the early 80’s which most of us never saw. Over the last two decades, most of the iconic players to have donned the blue of Italy have played for Juventus in some part of their career, including Dino Zoff, Roberto Baggio, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi, Giorgio Chielini and Luca Toni.

Again, it is the Italian identity in Juventus that has resulted in the successes of both teams.