01 November 1897
Juventus had been to Florence’s Stadio Artemio Franchi and picked up important results before – in both away legs of the Europa League and Coppa Italia in recent seasons for example – but the Bianconeri’s 2-1 success over Fiorentina in April 2016 will surely go down as one of the most memorable of recent times.
The drama on the field alone would make it stand out from the 21 previous triumphs on Viola soil. April’s goal of the month from Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring, Fiorentina struck back through Nikola Kalinic ten minutes from time only to lose their lead a matter of moments after Alvaro Morata’s tap-in.
One of the most thrilling conclusions of the season was still to come however. Felled in the box by former Fiorentina star Juan Cuadrado just shy of the 90-minute mark, top scorer Kalinic faced Gianluigi Buffon from the penalty spot to potentially steal a point for his team and delay Juve’s title party plans for at least another week.
Fate stood in the way. Buffon’s superb stop low to his left removed the immediate danger only for the skipper to rise immediately to his feet to block Federico Bernardeschi’s shot on the rebound to save his team and add the final thrilling touch to an unforgettable fifth consecutive league title.
From the pre-match anticipation to the post-match consequences, this is a story more than worth living again…
