When a bunch of students in Turin put together a football club, way back in 1897, they had absolutely no idea what they had started, but 123 years on we know full well.
Juventus is the biggest and best club in Serie A, winning the last eight consecutive Scudettos, and here in the SBOBET football team we are united in our Serie A 2020 betting tips to back a ninth consecutive title, as and when we have a restart in Italy.
The Old Lady currently has one of the best players of all time in her ranks in Cristiano Ronaldo, but throughout history she has been blessed to have some of the finest players in world football, picking up 35 league titles and 13 Coppa Italias along the way.
So today I’m picking out my favourite five Bianconeri stars of all time, see how many you agree with.
5- Roberto Baggio
When Roberto Baggio moved from Fiorentina to Juventus in 1990 for £8m, he was the most expensive player in the world and he had the most famous ponytail in sport, earning him the nickname ‘Il Divin Codino’. And he was a divine footballer, often playing as a second striker, with superb vision, a brilliant cross and a deadly finish. In one game, a 5-1 victory over Ancona, he scored four goals in the opening 20 minutes in a devastating display.
Baggio headed to AC Milan in 1995 but had left his mark, scoring 78 goals in 141 appearances and winning the 1995 league and cup double, and in 1999 he came fourth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll.
4- Michel Platini
Platini is one of two French players in my top five Juve list, having ended an illustrious career with five seasons in Turin between 1982 and 1987. While there he won three consecutive Ballon D’Ors between 1983 and 1985 and was a popular choice as the best player on the planet at the time.
Playing as an attacking midfielder he scored 68 goals in 147 appearances for Juventus and was renowned for his ability to find the killer pass and convert free-kicks at will. He inspired the Old Lady through a golden period, winning two league titles and the 1985 European Cup, where he scored the only goal in victory over Liverpool, though the triumph was overshadowed by the Heysel Stadium disaster where 39 supporters tragically died.
3- Zinedine Zidane
Azzurri fans will forever remember ZZ’s contribution to the 2006 World Cup final when he saw red after headbutting Marco Materazzi. The Frenchman was dismissed immediately and Italy went on to win the cup on penalties.
That was his last appearances for Les Bleus and one which lives in the memory for all he wrong reasons, but certainly not in Italy! He was a popular figure, particularly in Turin, after a glittering spell at Juventus at the end of the 20th century. A dominant midfielder who created space with ease, he was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year in his first season, 1996/7, as the Old Lady won the league, retaining the title the following season as ZZ picked up the Ballon D’Or.
2- Allesandro Del Piero
No outfield player sums up Juventus more than Allesandro Del Piero. A one club man in Serie A, he scored 208 goals in 513 games for I Bianconeri between 1993 and 2012 becoming Juve’s all-time leading goal scorer. In 1996 Del Piero was awarded Roberto Baggio’s Number 10 shirt, which had also been worn by Platini, and he never looked back.
A prolific poacher, he bagged 346 in all competitions, leading Juventus to six league titles. In his final game he scored against Atalanta as Juventus picked up the Scudetto, and while his 27 goals in 91 games for Italy make him the fourth highest scorer in the nation’s history, it is in Turin where he is truly beloved. Former team-mate Pavel Nedved summed up the feelings of Bianconeri fans when he said: “When anybody in the world says the word ‘Juve’ they have a picture of Del Piero in mind; I think that says it all.”
1- Gianluigi Buffon
But my number one is a goalkeeper. He made an emotional farewell to the Old Lady in 2018, but Gigi Buffon headlined once again in the Serie A 2020 news at the beginning of this season when he returned for another stint in Turin at the start of this season, making another seven appearances to add to his previous 509.
Regarded by many as the best goalkeeper of all time, Buffon is the most capped player in Italian history, playing 176 times for the Azzurri. The brilliant shot stopper captained Juventus to win nine Scudettos and four Coppa Italias while winning the 2006 World Cup.
He’s collected the most clean sheets in Serie A, a colossal 294, a record unlikely ever to be broken.
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