Cristiano Ronaldo scored a record-equalling 31st league goal for Juventus to help the Old Lady seal a record-extending ninth consecutive Serie A title with victory over Sampdoria in Turin on Sunday.
Ronaldo opened the scoring from Miralem Pjanic’s short free-kick in first-half injury time and Federico Bernardeschi sealed the win after 67 minutes.
Ronaldo’s goal meant he is one goal short of equalling Felice Borel’s 32-goal record haul for the Old Lady in a single Serie A campaign which was set in 1933-34.
Maurizio Sarri’s side are the only team to ever win nine consecutive titles in one of Europe’s top five leagues.
It extends their own record, which Bayern Munich had matched in June.
Former Chelsea boss who won his first-ever piece of silverware as a coach when he led the Blues to the Europa League trophy last season has now become the oldest ever winner of Serie A at 61-years of age.
It marks a triumphant conclusion to what had threatened to be an underwhelming first season in charge of Juventus for Sarri who used to be a banker until the age of 30 and didn’t coach in Serie A until he was 65.
The Old Lady had gone into the game needing a win from their last three league matches to ensure they could not be caught in the title race.
Mid-table Sampdoria offered plenty resistance until they were undone by Juve’s clever freekick routine that saw Pjanic shape to shoot before laying the ball for Ronaldo to place into the goal on the stroke of halftime.
Sampdoria missed two glorious opportunities to equalise after the break, as Lorenzo Tonelli could only head wide before Gaston Ramirez’s header was straight at Wojciech Szczesny.
And they paid for their profligacy when Juve sub Federico Bernardeschi reacted quickest to a loose ball to poke home and double his side’s advantage.
Juve’s night was then made slightly easier as the visitors were reduced to 10 men after Morten Thorsby was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for a late foul on Pjanic.
Alex Sandro was then brought down in the area by Fabio Depaoli to win Juventus a spot-kick, but Ronaldo blasted the penalty off the crossbar and missed the chance to close in on Ciro Immobile’s 34 goals in the race for the Serie A golden boot.
The miss mattered little though as Juventus’ record-extending title win was confirmed minutes later when the final whistle was blown.
