Maurizio Sarri on Sunday described his first league title with Juventus as “tasting sweet” after a difficult debut season for the veteran coach overshadowed by the three-month COVID-19 suspension.
“I told the players: ‘If you win with me who has never won anything, it is because you are really strong,’” Sarri told a news conference after the Turin giants sealed their ninth consecutive Serie A title.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Bernardeschi scored in either half as Juventus beat UC Sampdoria 2-0 to move seven points ahead of second-placed Inter and seal a 36th scudetto with two matches to spare.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The title is 61-year-old Sarri’s first and extends a record Juventus run, which Antonio Conte started with three titles from 2011-2012 and Massimiliano Allegri continued with the following five.
“It has a sweet taste. Winning is hard and this club has been winning for so many years,” said Sarri, whose only previous trophy was the UEFA Europa League last year with Chelsea. “Every year it is harder. There is nothing acquired in sport and it is not easy to stay at this level. It has been a very hard, very long, strange season. To succeed in being champions with two rounds to go, is the great merit of this group.”
Sarri praised Juventus president Andrea Agnelli and club officials for helping him find his feet during his first season in Turin.
“The president is a person who gives you energy, the leaders are always present,” he said. “When you arrive you have to enter on tiptoe. Then it’s a long journey. You can’t arrive at a club that has been winning for eight years and want to change everything. It wouldn’t be smart.”
Sarri’s focus now turns to the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie against Olympique Lyonnais on Friday next week, when Juventus need to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg in France.
Juventus have not won the European title since 1995-1996.
“The Champions League, I don’t think about it yet. I want to take at least a night to enjoy this, the players, too,” Sarri said. “What is happening is beautiful and difficult. We will see how we will approach this. We’re coming off 14 games played in 44 days.”
“We left people behind and let’s hope we didn’t lose Paulo [Dybala] as well. We’ll see,” he said of the Argentine, who limped off the pitch on Sunday. “This is a tournament that is difficult to predict because each team will have its own story, but I think this is a year when anything can happen.”
In Verona, a hat-trick moved Ciro Immobile within three goals of overtaking Gonzalo Higuain’s single-season record for Serie A with two matches remaining.
Immobile netted two penalties and also scored a magnificent strike in SS Lazio’s 5-1 win at Hellas Verona. He now has 34 goals in 34 matches — three more than Ronaldo.
Higuain scored 36 for SSC Napoli in 2015-2016.
Immobile’s second goal of the night was a thing of beauty: Set up by Jordan Lukaku on the left flank, he curled a shot into the top corner.
Lazio moved level on points with third-placed Atalanta BC, one point behind Inter in second place.
AS Roma toughened their grip on fifth place by beating ACF Fiorentina 2-1 with two penalties from Jordan Veretout.
Udinese won 1-0 at Cagliari to secure a 26th straight season in the top flight, while relegation-threatened US Lecce conceded a stoppage-time winner by Musa Barrow in a 3-2 loss at Bologna. Torino were held 1-1 by already-relegated SPAL.
Additional reporting by AP
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