The year is 2020: Juventus is on a 9-year title streak, financially strapped, and home to a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. No, this isn’t an Inter fan’s worst nightmare but actually how the football landscape looks today. But we’re not quite there just yet. Going back just 10 years, very few would have expected the disgraced Italian giants to not only bounce back but to bounce back so hard. Calciopoli, Relegation, and Return to Serie A In 2006, five Italian football clubs were accused and found guilty of match-fixing and other illegal actions that threatened to jeopardize the integrity of the sport. Amongst them, and most heavily punished, was Italy’s biggest club Juventus. Unlike the other teams involved in the scandal, Juventus were punished to the full extent of the law as they were not only stripped of the league titles they won in 2005 and 2006 but were demoted to Serie B and given a points deduction for the next season. That 2006 preseason was a turbulent one for Juventus. The summer
After a 12 month sabbatical on from a sensational 4 years in charge of Barcelona, Pep Guardiola decided to ply his trade in Germany at giants Bayern Munich. Like many others, I have often wondered whether Guardiola was successful during his time in Germany, so I find it only fitting to look back at his time in charge of Bayern. This is part of a series which will be looking back at how certain managers with mixed opinions did during their time with a specific club. To answer that question for Guardiola we'll be looking at how well he did to live up to the standards of a Bayern Munich manager - sheer success and quality of football - and how well he prepared the club for the future. Bayern Under Pep The first question asks whether he achieved his primary objective at the club. But, what exactly was his primary objective? Given the stature of the club, I would say his primary objective was to raise the standard of football at Bayern Munich and to maintain the flow of silverware