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Campioni!

Juventus continue to reign in Serie A as Conte's stock rises

They were expected to win it, but few expected it would come this way.

Juventus secured the 2013-14 Serie A title with three games to spare yesterday, after closest challengers Roma were stunned 4-1 away to relegation-haunted Catania.

It is the Turin giants' 30th official title in Italy's top flight and third in succession under coach Antonio Conte.

Amid all the celebrations that will take place in Turin over the next few days, the Serie A club will now worry over the future of Conte.

The former Italy international took over from Luigi Del Neri in June 2011 and, although the appointment of Conte surprised some, the former Juventus star was a popular choice among the fans.

Juve had struggled to reclaim top spot in Italian football since returning to Serie A in 2007 following their ignominious demotion after the 2006 match-fixing scandal.

The appointment of Conte soon changed that and he won the Scudetto at a canter in 2012 with the team remaining undefeated throughout the campaign.

And Conte has continued to turn around the fortunes of the Turin club, with title wins in each of the following seasons.

But that success could come at a cost, with major European clubs across the continent already being linked with a move for the Juventus head coach.

The Daily Telegraph have already reported that Manchester United are monitoring the Juve boss after the sacking of David Moyes.

The future of Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich appears uncertain and the question marks over Gerardo Martino at Barcelona reached a crescendo at the weekend after the draw with Getafe left the Catalan club all but out of the La Liga tile race.

100 POINTS

Juventus, known as the "Grand Old Lady" in Italy, remain on course to become the first team in Serie A to finish with at least 100 points.

They are on 93 points, and after hosting Atalanta tomorrow morning (Singapore time), they travel to Roma next week and close out the season at home to Cagliari.

The players had congregated at a hotel in Turin in the afternoon to watch Roma's upset on television and immediately after the final whistle the celebrations began.

Several players, among them striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, posted brief messages on Twitter: "Campioni!!!!"

"We are the champions, we are the champions," read another from the club's official Twitter feed, alongside pictures of the players dressed in identical black t-shirts making reference to the club's belief they have won 32 titles.

Juventus were stripped of two Serie A titles, which they won in 2005 and 2006, following their demotion to Serie B for their role in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.

"I'm very happy, we've won the title and I'm really happy for everyone at the club," Juve striker Carlos Tevez said. - Wire Services.


The Scudetto is always special, especially a third in a row as that had never happened to us before. Even legendary coaches were unable to get three consecutive titles.

— Juventus coach Antonio Conte

We’ll enjoy this recordbreaking Scudetto... we’re not done yet as we want to become the first Serie A club to amass 100 points... we want to write new pages in this club’s history.

— Juventus and defender Giorgio Chiellini