Juventus win two Serie A titles in one day as men and women triumph

Juventus overcame their European blues when they fought back to beat Fiorentina 2-1 at home on Saturday and claim the Serie A title for the eighth season in a row. Knocked out of the Champions League by Ajax in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, Juventus fell behind to a Nikola Milenkovic goal in the sixth minute and saw Federico Chiesa hit the frame of their goal twice before half-time.

But an Alex Sandro header and a Germán Pezzella own goal either side of the break wrapped up a record-extending 35th Scudetto and allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to add to the league titles he won in England and Spain with Manchester United and Real Madrid. Juve’s 28th win in 33 league games this season left them with 87 points, 20 more than second-placed Napoli who have six games to play.

“To win the championship with five matches to spare is testimony to the great season we have had,” said Massimiliano Allegri.

His team are the first to win any of Europe’s top five leagues – England, Spain, France, Italy and Germany – eight times in a row. However, it still had the air of the consolation prize after their failure to progress in the Champions League, which they had high hopes of winning following the signing of Ronaldo in July.

“I’m really happy to have won the Italian title in my first season here,” said the Portugal captain. “It has been a great season for this Juventus, we also won the Italian Supercup. We didn’t do so well in the Champions League but there is always next year.”

Allegri’s side appeared to be suffering the after-effects of Tuesday’s 2-1 home defeat by Ajax in the opening half-hour. Fiorentina were without a win in their previous eight Serie A league games but Milenkovic put them ahead, firing into the roof of the net from close range after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny diverted Chiesa’s cross into his path.

Chiesa curled a shot against the post as Juventus continued to struggle before Sandro came to the rescue as he got away from the Fiorentina defence to score with a low near-post header from a corner in the 37th minute. Juventus had another close escape before half-time as Chiesa rattled the underside of the crossbar with a rasping drive.

But a moment of brilliance from Ronaldo ended Juve’s suffering. The Portuguese forward produced a devastating burst of speed to reach the byline and his low cross was inadvertently turned in by Pezzella.

“We don’t think it’s really sunk in that we are rewriting history,” said the Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini. “I don’t know if anyone will ever repeat this in football, above all in Italy – eight titles in a row.”

Earlier the England international striker Eniola Aluko scored as Juventus Women beat Verona 3-0 to retain their Serie A Women title by one point from Fiorentina. Aluko, 32, scored Juve’s third goal in the 69th minute following earlier strikes from Petronella Ekroth and Cristiana Girelli.

Elsewhere in the men’s Serie A Milan were held to a 1-1 draw at Parma after the veteran defender Bruno Alves scored with a majestic free-kick for the mid-table hosts with three minutes left. The 37-year-old Portugal defender curled his effort over the wall and squeezed it between Gianluigi Donnarumma and the near post to give Parma a deserved point and hand Milan a setback in their quest to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

The substitute Samu Castillejo had given Milan the lead when he headed in from Suso’s cross in the 69th minute, three minutes after coming on.

At San Siro, Inter were held to a 1-1 draw by Roma, who went ahead early on through a spectacular solo goal by Stephan El Shaarawy. Ivan Perisic nodded in a second-half equaliser for the hosts, who sit comfortably in third. Milan occupy the fourth and final Champions League slot, one point ahead of Roma.