Italian Serie A: The Juventus revival:When people talk about Juventus, the term DNA is often mentioned. Winning, they say, is part of the Juventus DNA. On Sunday, goalkeeper Gigi Buffon was at it. After Juventus had grasped a last-gasp 3-2 win over Cagliari in a match in which they had conceded two penalties, Buffon said: "Only Juventus could have won a game like this. Only Juventus, because while people come and go here and management changes, the true strength of the club is the players, their DNA. Whoever takes the pitch with this shirt on their backs is fired with a will to win that has no equal in any other club."
You might feel that Buffon was a little over the top. In the heat of the moment, hyperbole perhaps got the better of him. Yet, there is no denying that the most famous club name in Italian football is back, back on top of Serie A - admittedly after just two days. At the end of Sunday's game, Buffon went down to the Juventus fans and with his hands close to his genitals made an unequivocal gesture.
The message was clear: "This side has real testicles."
The Old Lady of Italian football is back in Serie A after arguably the most famous, most talked-about and most written-about relegation in modern football history. For Juventus, who had never before been relegated, the year in Serie B was a year in purgatory. For those who were horrified by the club's wholesale involvement in the "Calciopoli" match-fixing scandal of last summer, it was the least they could expect.
The argument will rage as to whether Juventus truly have paid their debt to footballing society. Given that they have immediately bounced back into Serie A, there are those who feel that perhaps the punishment was not severe enough.
Up in Turin, they would beg to differ. One season in Serie B and two without the Champions League could have cost Juventus €120 million or more by way of lost advertising, sponsorship and box-office revenue. With Calciopoli came a post-World Cup fire sale; Italian World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, Brazilian midfielder Emerson, utility player Gianluca Zambrotta, Frenchmen Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira and coach Fabio Capello headed off for greener pastures in Madrid, Barcelona and Milan.
On their return to Serie A, Juventus have had to rebuild a team worthy of their name and tradition. In that task, they have been much helped by new coach, Claudio "Tinkerman" Ranieri, formerly of Napoli, Fiorentina, Chelsea and Valencia.
Ranieri's first and perhaps most important move subsequent to being appointed in June was to persuade the club's most famous names to stay put. For this new season, Juventus can look to a chassis built around the familiar names of Buffon in goal, Mauro Camoranesi and Czech Pavel Nedved in midfield and captain Alessandro Del Piero and Frenchman David Trezequet up front. All five have been instrumental as Juve opened up the new season with a 5-1 win over Livorno and a 3-2 win over Cagliari in the league and a 3-0 Italian Cup win over Parma, all in the first seven days.
These are, of course, early days. In all three games, there were moments when Juventus looked very ordinary. Yet, the results and a certain attitude on the pitch speak for themselves.
The example is there for the new arrivals - players such as striker Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese), Portugese midfielder Tiago (Lyon), Argentine midfielder Sergio Almiron (Empoli), Czech Republic defender Zdenek Grygera (Ajax), Portugese defender Andrade (La Coruna) and Bosnian Hasan Salihamidzic (Bayern Munich) as well as youngsters Antonio Nocerino (Piacenza), Domenico Crescito (Genoa) and Christian Molinaro (Siena).
As they struggled to make themselves competitive for Serie A, Juventus this summer broke the house rules - they took in €17 million for players sold but they spent €57 million for the nine above-named players.
For years Juventus have concentrated hard on balancing the books, on spending less than they earned, if possible. This season, though, is different. Juventus want to get back to the top and quickly; they want to do at least well enough to qualify for the Champions League - a big ask.
So how do those famous Juventus "old boys" the former Juve coaches Marcello Lippi and Fabio Capello see the new season?
Lippi strikes a familiar note when he says, "Buffon, Nedved, Camoranesi and Del Piero - if these four have a good season, then the new players will become important players too."
After watching Juve come from behind to beat Roma 5-2 in a friendly three weeks ago, Capello pronounced, "What impressed me was the character shown by this team and these players; it's part of their DNA."
Back to familiar names and concepts then. Back to familiar Juventus winning ways?
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)