TURIN: Juventus overcame their European blues when they fought back to beat Fiorentina 2-1 at home on Saturday and claim the Serie A title for a remarkable eighth season in a row.

Knocked out of the Champions League by Ajax in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, Juventus fell behind to a Nikola Milenkovic goal in the sixth minute and survived two Federico Chiesa shots against the woodwork before halftime.

But an Alex Sandro header and a German Pezzella own goal either side of the break wrapped up a record-extending 35th scudetto crown and allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to add to the English and Spanish titles he won with Manchester United and Real Madrid at the first attempt.

Juve’s 28th win in 33 league games this season left them with 87 points, 20 more than second-placed Napoli who have six games to play. They are the first team to win any of Europe’s top five leagues — England, Spain, France, Italy and Germany — eight times in a row.

“To win the championship with five matches to spare is testimony to the great season we have had,” said coach Massimiliano Allegri who has been in charge for the last five campaigns and also won Serie A with AC Milan in 2011.

Ronaldo, scorer of 19 goals in the campaign, said: “I’m really happy to have won the Italian title in my first season here. It has been a great season for this Juventus, we also won the Italian Supercup. We didn’t do so well in the Champions League but there is always next year.”

However, it still had the air of the consolation prize after their failure to progress in the Champions League which they had high hopes of winning following the signing of Ronaldo in July. Juve have won Europe’s premier club competition twice, compared to seven times for AC Milan and Inter Milan’s three.

The Juventus women’s team also clinched the Italian title Saturday, with a 3-0 win at Hellas Verona in the final round of the season. It’s the second consecutive title for the women’s squad.

The men’s team had to come from behind, as Milenkovic’s goal was the earliest Juventus has conceded all season.

Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was lying on the ground in apparent pain following contact near the post when the ball bounced toward Milenkovic, who smashed it into the roof of the net.

Juve continued to struggle before Sandro came to the rescue as he got away from the Fiorentina defence to score with a low near-post header from a corner in the 37th minute.

Order was restored in the second half as Ronaldo aimed his cross toward Federico Bernardeschi and Pezzella turned it into his own net as he attempted to intercept the pass.

“We were greatly disappointed this week, but now it’s time to party,” said defender Giorgio Chiellini. “The Champions League is a competition which comes down to details. You can play well for nine months and then compete in a week where things are slightly off and it’s over. We have to continue to progress and work, it’s the only way we know at Juventus.”

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2019