Juventus

Juventus is officially the champion of Italy.

That’s seven in a row, for those who are counting.

For Massimiliano Allegri, this is a period of astonishing success. Coupled with the Coppa Italia they won last week, that makes it four domestic doubles on the bounce for the Old Lady. Following on from the foundations laid by Antonio Conte, Juventus has become a winning machine.

With Juventus set to take on the MLS All-Stars on August 1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Old Lady legend Edgar Davids was on hand Wednesday to do a bit of scouting for his former club. The 45-year-old also did a bit of what “The Pit Bull” does best: he hammered something. 

How quickly can a man go from hero to villain?

For Kalidou Koulibaly, it was less than ten minutes of actual game time. After scoring the winning goal against Juventus in the dying minutes, reviving Napoli’s floundering title challenge, he was sent off in the first five minutes of the next game away to Fiorentina, squandering any resurgent hopes by setting the scene for a 3-0 thrashing by the home side.

Last week, we asked whether Serie A has a Juventus problem. With the title race seemingly done and dusted, a seventh scudetto securely in the bag, the question was whether this record-breaking period of success was in danger of undermining the Italian game.

This was meant to be a blockbuster weekend. There was so much going on in Serie A. The Rome derby. Inter versus Atalanta. Milan versus Napoli. All the fallout from the midweek European ties. The build up to next weekend’s potential title decider in Turin.

Instead, it all kind of fizzled out. All of the most interesting fixtures ended in goalless draws, extinguishing any chance of a title race and offering us no progress in the race for the Champions League. A damp squib of a weekend, all build up and no pay off.

Michael Oliver, the referee who took a stand and freed Narnia from the evil grasp of Sauron, returned to Premier League duty on Monday in a 1-1 draw between West Ham United and Stoke City. Okay, fine, Oliver didn’t fight any orcs or free Narnia, but the man did end Gianluigi Buffon’s dreams of winning the Champions league. 

Roma, Juventus 

Oh, Michael Oliver.

Mikey, Mikey, Michael.

Michael Oliver, with a rubbish bin for a heart.

Michael Oliver, with his Citroen Saxo haircut.

Michael Oliver, with the face of an AirFix fanatic, all glue-eyed intricacy and camo paint fumes. 

Michael Oliver, with his absolutely correct refereeing decision in the biggest moment of the footballing season so far.

Michael Oliver, with the target over his head. The bullets are in the post already, Mike.