Juventus won Serie A for the fifth season in a row without kicking a ball on Monday after Napoli, the only team that could have caught them, were sunk 1-0 by a late Radja Nainggolan goal at AS Roma. |
Juventus clinched its fifth straight Serie A title with three matches to spare after Napoli was beaten 0-1 at AS Roma yesterday.
Juventus won 2-1 at Fiorentina on Sunday and Napoli needed to beat Roma to prevent the Bianconeri from clinching the title. Radja Nainggolan scored for Roma one minute from the end.
Juventus, which has led the table since beating Napoli 1-0 in February, leads Napoli by 12 points, with Roma two points further back in third.
It was Juve's 32nd Italian league title — not including the two honors that were taken away after the 2006 match-fixing scandal known as Calciopoli.
Later, AC Milan was visiting last-place Hellas Verona and relegation-threatened Carpi was playing Empoli.
The match, played at a half-empty Stadio Olimpico on a sunny bank holiday afternoon — being Liberation Day in Italy — was an anti-climatic end to a season which had at one stage promised to be one of the most exciting Italian title races for years.
The game between Serie A's two highest-scoring sides was threatening to peter out into a tame goalless draw until Nainggolan slotted the ball home in the 89th minute following a move started with a delicate pass from Roma substitute Francesco Totti.
During the first half of the season, the lead had changed almost weekly with Roma, Napoli, Inter Milan and Fiorentina all taking turns at the top.
But, as its rivals faltered, Juventus put together an astonishing run in which it took 73 points out a possible 75 to win the title with games to spare.
Roma had more possession but Napoli, whose top-scorer Gonzalo Higuain returned after a three-match ban, carved out the better chances and Jose Callejon had a first-half goal ruled out by a hairline offside decision.
Without a match to attend, Juventus fans celebrated in Turin's central Piazza San Carlo. Massimiliano Allegri's men are also in the Italian Cup final where they face AC Milan on May 21.
Juventus last won five consecutive titles from 1931-35.
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