Cristiano Ronaldo leads Juventus to record ninth Serie A title
Juventus defeated Sampdoria 2-0 to mathematically secure the league title with two games remaining.
Juventus FC has secured the 2019-2020 Serie A title after a 2-0 victory against Sampdoria in Turin last night. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 31st goal of the season and dedicated the record-extending title to the fans. Juventus is the only club to win nine consecutive titles in Europe's top five leagues.
On Thursday last week, Juventus had failed to secure the Serie A title earlier after an admittedly "messy" defeat against a struggling Udinese. Head coach Maurizio Sarri implied that the team is exhausted and they are starting to run out of gas for the home stretch. Juventus was only able to secure one victory in their last five games before facing Sampdoria. Their title campaign was helped by the fact that the other title contenders dropped points as well.
Nevertheless, the team was able to gather enough inspiration to finally get the job done on Sunday night. Ronaldo scored the first goal of the evening in the closing stages of the first half. Sampdoria piled on the pressure as they searched for an equaliser upon the restart. However, the hosts were able to get some breathing room after Federico Bernardeschi was able to take advantage of a loose ball from a saved attempt by Ronaldo. Juventus went 2-0 up in the 67th minute and there was no looking back.
The Portuguese forward had another opportunity to extend his goal tally in the closing minutes, but he hit the crossbar while shooting from the spot. With only two matches remaining and the golden boot still up for grabs, it remains to be seen if Ronaldo will be able to catch Ciro Immobile's 34-goal haul.
Juventus has once again stamped its domination over the Serie A. Germany's Bayern Munich is hot on their heels for the record, after having won an eighth consecutive Bundesliga title this season. Only two other clubs (Celtic in Scotland and Ludogrets Razgrad in Bulgaria) have been able to string nine titles, but neither of them are from the top five European leagues (Spain, England, France, Italy, Germany).
This is Maurizio Sarri's first league title as a football manager. The former Chelsea boss joined Juventus in 2019.
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