Three in a row for record-breaking Juventus

Juventus didn’t just prove themselves the best team in Serie A in 2013-14, they also made a case for themselves to be considered one of the greatest sides the league had ever seen.

Antonio Conte’s charges made it three Scudetti in a row by racking up a record-breaking 102 points, after dropping points in just five games over the course of an utterly dominant campaign.

As ever, Juve were almost unbreachable at the back, while Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo formed one of the most wonderfully complementary midfield threes of the modern era.

However, it was the addition of Carlos Tevez up front that helped the Old Lady go to another level, as the Argentine attacker struck up a prolific partnership with another new arrival, Fernando Llorente, to fire the Bianconeri to their most impressive title triumph yet.

CHANGES

Juve’s success continued to be founded upon excellent work by CEO Beppe Marotta in the transfer market. Indeed, Llorente had arrived on a free transfer from Athletic Bilbao, while Manchester City had requested just €9 million for the talented but temperamental Tevez.

Napoli also spent well, using their €64m windfall from the sale of Edinson Cavani to Paris Saint-Germain to acquire Gonzalo Higuain, Raul Albiol and Jose Callejon from Real Madrid, as well as PSV winger Dries Mertens and Verona’s midfield metronome Jorginho, although the latter only arrived midway through the season.

Cash-strapped Milan took a punt on a couple of younger players in the shape of Andrea Poli and Riccardo Saponara before then bringing former fan favourite Kaka back to San Siro on a free transfer after his disastrous, injury-blighted spell at Real Madrid.

Inter’s market was equally unimpressive, though they did make one excellent addition, taking Mauro Icardi from Sampdoria for just €13m.

Roma made a small fortune from the sales of Marquinhos (PSG), Pablo Osvaldo (Southampton) and Erik Lamela (Tottenham) and reinvested that money in the likes of Medhi Benatia,…

Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/three-in-a-row-for-record-breaking-juventus-serie-a-in-2013-14/96

Author : [email protected] (Martin Macdonald)

Publish date : 2024-08-01 15:00:00

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