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Juventus’ beleaguered rivals hoped that the shock resignation of Antonio Conte as coach during the summer of 2014 because of a dispute over transfer strategy might destabilise the champions. No such luck.
While the appointment of Massimiliano Allegri did not initially go down well in Turin, the former AC Milan coach not only tightened the Old Lady’s grip on domestic honours, winning a double in his first season at the helm, he also re-established the Bianconeri as a major European force during their run to the Champions League final.
They may have been beaten in Berlin by Barcelona but 2014-15 was nonetheless a remarkable campaign for Juve, who won the title by a whopping 17 points from Roma before beating Lazio after extra time in the Coppa Italia final.
By this stage, the defensive excellence of Gianluigi Buffon, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini was taken for granted, and they were actually bolstered by the arrival of another veteran, Patrice Evra.
While Andrea Pirlo’s powers may have been on the wane, Paul Pogba continued to grow into one of the most dynamic midfielders in world football alongside him.
Up front, Alvaro Morata added crucial goals but Carlos Tevez was the undoubted star of the show, hitting 29 goals in all competitions as an almost complete Juve side came within a whisker of a first ever treble.
CHANGES
Juve duo Morata (€20m) and Evra (€1m) both made for unsurprisingly shrewd signings, but Roberto Pereya also proved yet another fine useful acquisition from Udinese at a cost of just €1.5m.
Milan, meanwhile, hired Pippo Inzaghi to replace the sacked Clarence Seedorf as coach but the Rossoneri were still struggling financially and, thus, forced to take gambles on top club’s castaways.
In fairness, Jeremy Menez was one of the few success stories of an otherwise dire season at San Siro, but loan signing Fernando Torres was an unmitigated disaster.
Inter bid farewell to nearly all of their remaining treble-winning…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/juventus-remain-unstoppable-under-allegri-serie-a-in-2014-15/95
Author : [email protected] (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-08-02 14:00:00
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