2015-2016 SEASON - #HI5TORY
The summer of 2015, in many ways, marked a new dawn in the evolution of the side with several changes made to personnel. As Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente all bid farewell to Turin, the likes of Paulo Dybala, Sami Khedira, Mario Mandzukic, Simone Zaza, Juan Cuadrado and Alex Sandro entered the picture as 10 new players in total joined the Bianconeri ranks. The season began with the club’s seventh Italian Super Cup thanks to a 2-0 triumph over Lazio in Shanghai, but they were suffering an especially slow start to their Serie A campaign. After 10 games, the Old Lady found herself in 12th place and far away from reaching her objective of claiming an historic fifth successive Scudetto title. Then, following a humbling defeat away to Sassuolo, senior squad members Gianluigi Buffon and Patrice Evra called for change and for the group’s true, winning character to re-emerge. The team needed little time in heeding these words and, from their derby triumph over Torino later that week, would go on to win 25 from their next 26 games in the league. Meanwhile, they would put on a strong showing in the Champions League, in which they ultimately fell just short of overcoming a brilliant Bayern Munich side in the last 16 stage. Back on the domestic front, Allegri’s charges would not let their phenomenal run of form dip once and by 13 February they had overtaken Napoli at the top of the table after beating the Partenopei in a pulsating encounter at Juventus Stadium. Following victory away to Fiorentina on 25 April, Juve were on the cusp of completing arguably the most extraordinary of comebacks in Italian football history to claim a fifth consecutive league crown for the first time since their first Quinquennio celebration in 1935. The feat would be confirmed the following day when Roma defeated second-placed Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico – the scene of the Old Lady’s very next trophy-winning night, namely the Coppa Italia. By beating Milan 1-0 in extra-time in the capital, the Bianconeri created yet more history by becoming the first ever Italian team to win the league and cup double in consecutive campaigns.