There were periods in the time past when the Italia Serie A honour, the Scudetto or Coppa Campioni d'Italia was dominated by a single club for years, from city rivals Inter(2005-2010) & AC Milan(1991-94) to Juventus(1930-35) & Torino(1942-49). In all of those dominant seasons, none of those clubs come close to the domestic successes achieved by this present Juventus, the present Old Ladies of Turin has reign supreme for the past 8 seasons, holding firm to the prestigious Serie A throne, She'll stop at nothing to extend her reign for the 9th straight season.
The Bianconeri is not resting on her oars as she grows even stronger, the already untouchable squad that includes Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala, Miralem Pjanic, Giorgio Chiellini etc is being bolstered by the arrival of the midfield duo Aaron Ramsey(former Arsenal) and Adrien Rabiot(former PSG), and the talented teenage defender Mattijs de Ligt(former Ajax) amongst others. Even though Juventus had parted ways with their former manager Massimiliano Allegri(double domestic winner between 2015-18), and had since replaced him with former Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri(who has never won a domestic honour in Italy, however, won UEFA Europa League with Chelsea last season), it will still take some collapsing from Juventus before any of the Milan Clubs(Inter or AC), Napoli or other clubs can stop Juventus from winning a 9th successive Scudetto.
PARMA vs JUVENTUS, H2H;
Juventus begins her Scudetto defence on the road to Parma on Saturday, a team that has proven to be a tough nut to crack by the Old Ladies in recent fixtures, it took a Blaise Matuidi 2nd-half winner to separate the 2 in a hard-fought 2-1 win while the reverse fixture ended in an entertaining 3-3 draw. Further previous league fixtures saw both teams securing a win each(1-0 Parma, 7-0 Juve).
KEY MEN;
PARMA; Manager Roberto D'Aversa will be hoping his Ivory Coast import Gervinho reproduce such performance that saw him scored 2 goals in the 3 all draw with Juventus last season.
JUVENTUS; Maurizio Sarri, on the other hand, has a pool of stars to pick from, Cristiano Ronaldo, who also scored 2 goals in the 3-3 draw with Parma last season(and 21 league goals for Juve, their leading scorer) should be available for the opener, he could be playing in starting 11 with the new signings, talented box-to-box duo Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot who will provide him with plenty scoring chances.
PREDICTION;
Juventus yet to sort out the future of the Argentine Paulo Dybala, nevertheless, it is not expected to be a distraction or excuse for Juventus not to get all 3 points against Parma at the Stadio Ennio Tardini. I reckon a Juventus win.
Parma 0-2 Juventus.
Thank you all for your time.
Comments