Can Juventus rise from the dead again?
They certainly can, after all, they are Juventus themselves.
But it will take time.
Equating participation in the Europa League (at best, it could in fact remain a last place in the group as well) with a death declaration is perhaps a bit drastic.
Especially considering that one could easily lift Roger Schmidt’s superb Benfica into the sky or suggest that Juve are still showing signs of life and raise the level of tension at the end of the match at the Estadio da Luz.
But when I watch the Portuguese celebrate the fact that, in general, they sent Juventus very comfortably out of the Champions League, I can’t help but feel that La Vecchia Signora again somehow “gone to the grave”.
Although not in the same exciting, surprising and friendly way of titles as it was when they were relegated in 2006, right after the second division, following the Calciopoli scandal.
Then they only needed five seasons to come back, recover and lift the Scudetto again. Something they also did in the next eight (!) seasons.
Dramatic call me. But I’m not sure five seasons will be enough this time.
Sent in five seasons
Juventus was revived in 2010 by the more prosperous Juventus, who already had the materials and opportunities to become a giant again. internationally as well.
Today, competition is getting tougher, both domestically but above all globally, with competitors developing in the right direction. The club’s finances have yet to recover from the pandemic and the billion they spent on 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo just over four years ago.
And what about the band? He may be Juventus’s weakest player since the aftermath of Calciopoli.
Of course there are quality players like Dusan Vlahovic and others. Of course, players still have to have the resources to challenge the best, at least locally.
But how many want to stay next season? How many players can Juventus keep next season?
Does he really want to stay then?
For a club that can’t even fire a failed coach all of a sudden (they now have to pull the Allegri patch anyway?), missing out on the Round of 16 is a miscalculation of epic proportions.
And with the league format in mind, it’s not unreasonable that they can’t even secure a place in the group stage for next year.
Does Dusan Vlahovic, who is still fiercely wooed by the Premier League, really want to be without first-division matches? Can Juventus allow him to stay? How do players like Manuel Locatelli and Federico Chiesa reason? Two more of the few high-quality long-term assets in the old and scared Juve.
Until we know what spring brings, this will for now be only guesswork and theory.
But it comes as no surprise that these questions have already been asked.
Alpine mountain to climb
After all, we’re talking about a top club that has gone from being desperate and conscious of winning the Champions League to not even close to progressing from the group stage in just a few years.
Juventus has a mountain to climb to become what it was before. And then they’re still, apparently, on their way down the mountain in question as long as they don’t do anything drastic.
All the way down to the second division again, they surely won’t end up again, at least not on any sports grounds.
But the question is when they can become title contenders again.
Because it can take a long time.