Juventus 2 - Fiorentina 1: Initial reaction and random observations

Because everybody has at least a teeny-tiny part of an Agent of Chaos in us all, there was a side of me that wanted Juventus to pull a little bit of a troll job and be the ones who clinched their historic eighth straight title against Inter Milan next weekend. I know, I know, that would have meant seeing Juventus lose to Fiorentina on Saturday, which is not exactly the thing you want to see them do considering the week they’ve already had.

But hey, we can all want a little fun in our lives, right?

As it turned out, there’s going to be no need to call Harvey Dent or The Joker this time around. Those things may well have to wait until the next time Juventus gets ready to clinch a Scudetto around this time next season if they are so fortunate to push their title streak even close to a decade of Serie A dominance. That’s because, with a 2-1 comeback win over Fiorentina at Allianz Stadium, Juve officially did what they couldn’t do last weekend against SPAL — clinch the club’s eighth consecutive league title and 37th overall.

Yes, #MYTH has gone to #W8NDERFUL. Or something like that.

No matter what hashtag you decide to use, this Scudetto ended with the same way the last handful of trophies have — Juan Cuadradp sprinting over to Max Allegri and slapping some kind of something on top of the manager’s head.

Also: Juventus locker room videos with big Scudetto badges.

Not a bad day for Juventus as a club, I’d say. Juventus Women win their second straight league title with a 3-0 victory. A couple hours later, the Juventus men secure their eighth straight league title with a victory.

Further confirming this: THE SCUDETTI RUN THROUGH TURIN, DAMMIT.

The timing of this Scudetto clincher, the first game after Juventus’ Champions League elimination at the hands of Ajax, may seem like a small consolation prize as compared to what we’ve been hearing is the main goal for much of the 2018-19 season. I think all of us, without a doubt, would have loved to see more squad rotation and talk of Juve still competing on two fronts as they prepare for a semifinal showdown with Tottenham later this month.

But, as much as this game wasn’t all that enthralling — especially how it started — it still ended with Juventus, as they’ve done the previous seven seasons, celebrating the one thing 19 other teams in Serie A won’t win this season.

There were slip-ups this season. Juventus’ overall form wasn’t all that great at all. The Scudetto race was virtually over months ago once Juve quickly saw a single-digit lead go to 12, 15, 18 and sometimes even 20 or 21 points. The “charge” toward the Serie A title clearly became secondary importance with the emphasis shifting over to the Champions League prior to the Ajax loss.

Still, despite all of that, seeing Juventus celebrate winning the title is still quite enjoyable.

Anticlimactic as this title was as compared to other ones during this eight-year run, seeing Cuadrado jump onto Allegri’s back was still fun to see.

Winning these Scudetti, no matter how long this streak will go, will still be enjoyable.

Juventus just made history in front of our eyes, officially. And while the road to get there didn’t always blow us away and leave us wanting more, it’s still history — and some pretty impressive history at that, too.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• All of the attacking talent Juventus has on its roster — and I know that a good number of them are actually injured right now — and their Scudetto-clinching goal is actually an own goal. Eat your damn heart out, Marco Borriello.
• As messy as that second Juventus goal was, their first goal was pretty. The sweet corner to the near post by Miralem Pjanic, the diving header at the near post by Alex Sandro. The training ground routine they must have thought up at some point this season worked out pretty damn well.
• Also of note: I’m amazed that after a diving header like that, Sandro’s hair can continue to be perfectly quaffed like it almost always is. Must be using some incredible products.
• For the second summer in the last three years, Juventus will be linked to a young winger with the first name of Federico who plays for Fiorentina. And if Mr. Chiesa was treating Saturday’s trip to Turin as a open audition of sorts, well, I gotta say that he was one of the best players on the field before he was subbed off in the middle of the second half.
• Leave it to Wojciech Szczesny, one of Juventus’ best and most consistent players this season, to get his wrist stomped on during Fiorentina’s opener. Maybe you thought it was Carlo Pinsoglio time, but there was Woj, in the dying minutes, making a big save. Kinda the theme of his season, right? (The really big save to secure a win, not the getting hurt part.)
• That first half ... oof, that was rough.
• That second half ... that was better. Not great, but better.
• Joao Cancelo completed 69 passes. That’s nice.
• Moise Kean touched the ball EIGHT TIMES in 20 minutes he was on the field. Not great.
• I want Kean starting against Inter next weekend. I want Kean dancing on the Inter defense at the San Siro next weekend. Max, give it to us.
• What else do we need to say about that game? Well, not much. Juventus won the game, Juventus won the title, Juventus won the league. It’s officially official now. No more waiting.