For the second year in a row, Juventus played no part in the Serie A title race and instead entertained themselves with a battle to qualify for the Champions League.
The teams from Milan have ruled the roost over the past few years and Massimiliano Allegri’s side showed very little signs of climbing back to the top of the Italian mountain in 2021/22, recording their lowest points tally from the past 11 seasons.
There’s some hope for the future, however, with the Old Lady linked with a handful of big signings this summer in an attempt to turn things around.
It might not be one worth remembering, but here’s a review of Juventus’ 2021/22 campaign.
Juan Cuadrado
Few players can hold their heads high after this season, but Juan Cuadrado absolutely can.
The Colombian full-back was consistently impressive and single-handedly dragged Juve to positive results at times, proving to be a creative force from the right side for Allegri’s men.
He wasn’t perfect, but with such little help from those around him, it’s about as close as you could hope for.
Honourable mentions: Paulo Dybala, Danilo, Matthijs de Ligt
Juan Cuadrado vs Genoa
Direct from a corner. Enough said.
It’s tough to say he meant it, but Cuadrado earned a little luck this year. His cross came whipping into the box and looped over everyone as it nestled into the back of the net via a lovely dink off the post.
One of those that you don’t see every day.
Honourable mentions: Paulo Dybala vs Sampdoria, Juan Cuadrado vs Bologna, Paulo Dybala vs Roma
Juventus 4-1 Sampdoria
At risk of sounding like a miserable broken record, there weren’t a whole lot of impressive performances from Juventus this season, but the Coppa Italia triumph over Sampdoria was a rare bright spell.
Neither side were at full strength for the round-of-16 clash but Juventus looked as good as they did all year as they romped to an emphatic 4-1 victory courtesy of goals from Cuadrado, Daniele Rugani, Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata.
With 63% possession and 27 shots compared to Sampdoria’s four, nobody could have any complaints about the result.
Honourable mention: Lazio 0-2 Juventus
Dusan Vlahovic
Juve’s first real step on their rebuild came with the January purchase of young striker Dusan Vlahovic.
While the Serb didn’t maintain his unreal goalscoring rate from his time with Fiorentina, he did do enough to finish as the team’s third-highest scorer for the entire campaign, despite only playing half of it.
If Juve are going to make any noise next year, it’s likely all going to come through him.
Honourable mention: Manuel Locatelli
Danilo
The versatile Danilo continued his late bloom this season with another series of excellent performances.
Playing primarily at right-back, the Brazilian missed the festive period with a nasty injury but was thoroughly impressive when he was healthy. It was his nice defensive work that allowed Cuadrado to strut his stuff in the final third, but Danilo chipped in down that end as well.
Danilo led by example and will continue to be an important part of what Juventus do next season.
Honourable mentions: Weston McKennie, Luca Pellegrini
Pretty much everything
It wouldn’t be right to pick out just one underwhelming thing about Juventus’ season. Pretty much everything went wrong.
You can criticise Allegri for his underwhelming tactics and inability to get the best out of his squad, or you can go after nearly everyone in the Allianz Stadium dressing room for not living up to expectations.
Some poor performers did stand out more than others – Arthur, Alex Sandro – but nobody deserves to get off scot-free after this season.
