With Juventus 11 points clear of second-placed Napoli in Serie A with six games to go, it looks like the Bianconeri are almost in sight of a second consecutive league title under Antonio Conte.
Considering the predicament Juventus found themselves in after their 2006 relegation for match-fixing, it is an extraordinary achievement.
And in that context, Juventus’ journey to the Champions League quarter-finals in their first season back for three years should be seen as a positive.
In hindsight, Conte and his team may realize that but for a ruthlessly ambitious club like Juve, they will be disappointed by the comprehensive nature in which Bayern Munich swatted them aside home and away over the last three weeks.
As far as Juve has come, the gap between themselves and Europe’s elite is still sizeable although it is also related to Serie A’s relative decline on the grandest stage.
Juve have the strongest squad in Italy but even that is not enough to go all the way in the Champions League.
The midfield is considered one of the Top Four in Europe with the triumvirate of Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal dominant domestically, while the three-man defence is generally watertight.
But there are a few issues to iron out with an eye to the future. Pirlo has been the key man behind Juve’s league titles, while squad depth is an issue especially since Juve lack the spending power to threaten the top clubs.
Strikers
But it is the striking department that has raised eyebrows.
The Turin giants have six strikers on their books: Alessandro Matri, Sebastian Giovinco, Mirko Vucinic, Fabio Quagliarella, Nicolas Anelka and Nicklas Bendtner.
Bendtner is likely to be sent back to Arsenal after a torrid campaign, while Anelka was only a stop gap.
Matri, although a solid goalscorer, is not world class while Quagliarella is not a long-term option.
Generally Conte has favoured a front two of diminutive second striker Giovinco and the talented Vucinic. And although bring important facets to the front line, neither is prolific.
The importance of spreading the goals around at Juventus has helped mitigate the fact that Vucinic is the club’s top scorer in Serie A with a measly nine goals.
With that in mind, Athletic Bilbao and Spain striker Fernando Llorente was signed on a free transfer in January ahead of the 2013/14 season.
Contractual wrangles with his current club, has meant that he has only scored once this season but in prior campaigns he has been a key man for Athletic.
The 6 foot 5 target man is a powerful presence on the ground and in the air, scoring 63 goals in 141 games between summer 2008 and May 2012. It is an impressive strike rate but it is important to note that he has never breached the 20-goal mark in his league career.
But his physical style of play – with a technical edge – may suit Juventus wing-backs who will have a much more potent target to focus in the box. His potency with flick-ons could also work well with a nippy partner like Giovinco.
Despite that, there has to be doubts whether the 28-year-old on is the real difference between Juventus being a Top Eight European side and one that can really challenge for the Champions League.
Conte’s tactical weaknesses which became apparent against Bayern when he failed to make tactical changes or substitutions as the game started to get away from Juventus.
But there is also the over-reliance on the evergreen-but-aging Andrea Pirlo which must also be addressed if Juve have any prospects of ending their Champions League drought which stretches back to 1996.
