Is lack of Serie A competition killing Juventus?

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The Serie A title race is over. Not officially, or mathematically, but after 31 games of the season, Juventus have opened up a six-point lead over Napoli, and the Bianconeri will not be caught. The Old Lady are heading for a fifth consecutive scudetto for the first time since the 1930s.

It was not supposed to be like this, not this season. For several years, Juventus have lacked credible opposition and have won the title at a canter. But at the start of the 2015-16 season, following the departure of several key players, plus the hangover of defeat in the Champions’ League final, it looked like Juventus’s dominance in Serie A was set to be challenged.

In the first ten games of the season, Juventus won only three matches, and lost four. As late as December, the club were significantly off the pace, with Inter, Fiorentina, Roma and Napoli battling at the top. What has followed has in some ways been incredibly impressive. But it is also an incredibly damning indictment of the quality of Juventus’ opposition.

Juve have now won 21 and drawn once in their last 22 league games, meaning that after 32 games they have bettered last season’s points total, even after giving the rest of the league a ten-game head start. First Inter, then Fiorentina, and finally Napoli have fallen away, whilst a resurgent Roma are too far behind to mount any kind of challenge.

The title race ended in Udine, as Napoli went down 3-1 to Udinese, with Gonzalo Higuain sent off. Higuain’s 30 league goals have sustained the Napoli title push, but he will now miss the next four games, including clashes with Roma and Inter. It was a sad way for the challenge to end.

The day before, Juventus had hosted Empoli, without a win in 11 fixtures before visiting Turin. Empoli were the better side throughout though, and should have claimed at least a point. Juventus won 1-0. Whilst others have faltered, Juve have won games even when they have not even deserved a point.

The lack of credible competition at the top of Serie A has had a negative effect on the European performance of Italy’s clubs. No Italian team has made the quarter-finals of either the Champions League or the Europa League this season, a shocking situation with clubs like Wolfsburg, Sparta Prague and Braga still competing in continental tournaments.

Juventus may have reached the Champions League final last season, but there is nothing to suggest Italian clubs will be regulars in the latter stages of European competition again soon. Juve are simply not used to playing against top quality opposition, or dealing with sides who, whilst perhaps lacking in quality, manage to perfect a game plan against them. To repeat: they have dropped two points in 22 league games.

Other Italian teams have been embarrassed in European competition, sometimes against serious opposition, sometimes against relatively limited opponents. Roma somehow qualified from the Champions League group stage by winning one game in six, and shipped goals throughout the tournament before being eliminated by Real Madrid. Lazio never made it past the preliminaries, before being thumped at home by Sparta Prague in the Europa League. Fiorentina were torn apart by Tottenham, a team they had beaten just a season before.

It is sometimes suggested that European competition is tougher for English sides as they face much better opponents on a weekly basis than the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. There is little doubt that the average Premier League side is better than its counterparts in Spain, Germany, France or Italy, with players like Yohan Cabaye, Georginio Wijnaldum and Yann M’Vila finding themselves in relegation battles in the Premier League. But at the same time, English clubs are at least kept on their toes throughout the season.

For Juventus, this is not the case. If Juve know that they can barely perform for a quarter of the season and still win the title, what does this say about the competition? How will they be ready for matches against high-quality opposition? Juventus’ better challengers, including Inter, Napoli and Fiorentina, have not even been able to mount a serious challenge in the Europa League in recent years.

In round 32 of the Serie A season, Milan hosted Juventus. 13 years ago this was a Champions League final, and Milan made two finals in the following four seasons. Around the turn of the millennium, four different teams won Serie A in consecutive seasons. The correlation between a competitive Serie A and Italian success in the Champions League was no coincidence. Until Italy’s other clubs can pose a credible threat to Juventus again, we should not expect much from Italian teams in Europe.

Written by Ross Highfield

Featured image: All rights reserved by Charlie Cunningham.