After a wonderful start to 2024, an evil February has turned Juventus from a championship candidate into someone fearful of losing the ticket to the Champions League that they thought they had firmly in their hands.
Juve collapsed suddenly
After winning 52 points after an impressive first 21 rounds, the Old Lady suddenly and inexplicably collapsed even though they still started the new year strong and exciting with a convincing 3-0 victory over Sassuolo. and Lecce.
However, the unfortunate draw at home against Empoli, stemming from Milik’s inexplicable red card, gradually extinguished all hopes of a fair championship race with Inter Milan.
This is shown by the defeat against rival Inter Milan at Giuseppe Meazza, a defeat that greatly affected Juve’s psychology and spirit. The 0-1 loss did not accurately reflect the huge gap between them and the Nerazzurri.
It was a match in which Juve showed almost nothing and Inter goalkeeper Sommer even enjoyed the match without getting his gloves dirty.
Losing to their direct opponent is like Juve raising the white flag in the championship race, and they continue to surrender to any other opponent: losing to Udinese at home and drawing ugly at Verona. a match where Juve “suffered” most of the time.
Juve’s streak of unknown wins has reached 4 (2 draws and 2 losses). That is the performance of a team struggling in the red light group, not a championship candidate.
Worry about the match schedule
The Scudetto dream has flown away. From now until the end of the season, Juve must rediscover the motivation that took them far beyond their own limits, when it is fair to say that at the beginning of Summer 2023, no one considered the Old Lady a real candidate in the championship race. enemy.
In fact, Coach Allgeri understands this better than anyone and always tries to keep the home team on the ground, but unfortunately fails. As soon as the dream was broken, the whole team was exhausted both physically and mentally.
“I’m very angry, we worked so hard to build it, but destroyed it so easily,” Allegri bitterly said at the press conference after the Verona vs Juventus match.
Once the hope of the whole Serie A to counterbalance the too strong Inter, now Juve is facing a great risk of falling behind. Second place may be lost to Milan (if they win against Monza in the match taking place early this morning), and Atalanta and Bologna are also aiming to approach high flying form.
Juve’s schedule from now until the end of the season also does not support them. Right after the reception of Frosinone, a match that cannot be overlooked after recent bad results is a series of matches full of pitfalls: Napoli (away), Atalanta (home), Genoa (home), Lazio (away). ) and Fiorentina (home).
The difficulties are doubled when after the Turin derby, there is a difficult away trip to Cagliari and two big battles with Milan and Roma. And yet, the penultimate round away to Bologna could be vital.