Cristiano Ronaldo may have been brought in to fire Juventus to Champions League glory, but in terms of domestic success he was excellent as he scored 21 goals on the way to the Turin side’s eighth consecutive title, and in doing so became the first player ever to win Serie A, La Liga, and the Premier League.
Massimiliano Allegri’s charges cruised to the championship by eleven points after Napoli’s challenge derailed. The best stories of the season belonged to Atalanta, who qualified for the Champions League for the first time, and Fabio Quagliarella, who, at 36, won the Capocannoniere award for top scorer.
CHANGES
Juventus parted with over €100m in order to acquire Ronaldo from Real Madrid, and as well as CR7 they made the permanent signings of Douglas Costa, Joao Cancelo, and Leonardo Bonucci, who returned to the club after just one season at Milan, with Gonzalo Higuain going in the other direction on loan. The Rossoneri spent big again on the likes of Mattia Caldara, Krzysztof Piatek, Lucas Paqueta, and Samu Castillejo.
In the same city, Inter brought in Radja Nainggolan and Lautaro Martinez. Roma’s famed Director of Football, Monchi, splurged cash on Steven Nzonzi, Javier Pastore, Justin Kluivert, and Patrick Schick. Napoli’s biggest coup of the summer was bringing in Carlo Ancelotti as head coach, while Fabian Ruiz proved to be an astute signing from Betis.
SUMMARY
It took Ronaldo a little while to get going in Serie A, as he didn’t find the back of the net until his fourth fixture when he scored a double against Sassuolo in a 2-1 win. By then, he, and Juventus, were truly up and running.
The Old Lady may have not been particularly swashbuckling on occasions in the season, but their championship know-how was in evidence. They were relentless in their pursuit of points and wins and they would not suffer their first defeat of the campaign until the middle of March when, without Ronaldo, they were defeated 2-0 by Genoa.
Juve would lose three more…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/challengers-powerless-as-juventus-make-it-eight-in-a-row-serie-a-in-2018-19/24
Author : editors@footballcritic.com (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-08-04 13:00:00
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