The Bianconeri just fell short in Berlin but have proven this season that they are among the best teams in Europe. The job now will be sustaining it next term
Juventus are domestic double champions and were knocking on the door of a treble in the Champions League final until Neymar's injury time clincher for Barcelona in Berlin ultimately sealed their fate.
The challenge? To get better.
No Juventus supporter in their wildest dreams could have envisaged the type of season they've had, in Europe at least, following the upheaval at the club last summer. Antonio Conte, the man who shook the Old Lady of Italian football from her slumber in winning three consecutive Scudetti, left Turin in a blaze of controversy. Replacement Masimilliano Allegri was seen as a stop-gap, yesterday's man as a result of his recent underwhelming history at AC Milan.
Juventus might not have the best players in Europe, Barcelona do, but they have something very close to the best team. There is an identity and a shared sense of purpose running through their ranks from Gianluigi Buffon, through the backline that knows each other inside out, to a multifaceted midfield and a sharp strike force. The problem is, at the highest level, they are still not quite there. There is no great shame in that at this stage of their development.
The club themselves would never have expected to make it this far following two dismal campaigns in a row in the Champions League under Conte but Allegri has the team ahead of schedule. There is a gradual curve of improvement in any team and, with players as young as Paul Pogba and Alvaro Morata, that holds as true for Juve as it does for any other side. They have blazed a trail this season.
Things, though, are changing at Juve and expections must now rise inside the club as much as they will rise outwith. The club is on secure financial footing and will earn more cash from their Champions League participation than any other club in the competition.
Big-money transfer objectives can again be realised; Paulo Dybala has already been added at considerable expense. The €32 million man signed from Palermo has a happy knack of finding Serie A nets but is, as yet, totally unproven on the continent. Allegri must conjure a way of making sure he hits the ground running.
Dybala's arrivial means compatriot Carlos Tevez will leave thus summer or next with a spell at hometown club Boca Juniors in the offing.
The fact they can blow their budget on one big player, however, does not mean Juve will lose any of the sense in the market they gained in the recent fallow years. Sami Khedira will shortly be confirmed a Juventus player, following in the recent Juventus tradition of pedigree free signings like Pogba and Andrea Pirlo.
The Italian midfield veteran had tears in his eyes after the final whistle in the Olympiastadion with the suggestion being that his race is run after failing to match his European triumphs at Milan with Juve. MLS beckons with Khedira ready to step into the breach.
There is still the future of Pogba to decide. Juventus very much hold the cards on any deal with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain known to be interested. Once upon a time, Zinedine Zidane left Turin for Madrid at great expense. They bought Gianluigi Buffon, Lilian Thuram and Pavel Nedved with the transfer fee. It would not be beyond sporting director Giuseppe Moratta to conduct a similar campaign in the summer should the right players come available.
There is no guarantee over the future of Arturo Vidal either; a decent Copa America campaign on home turf in Chile would also attract the interest of plenty more clubs around Europe in this window.
You would not exactly describe this season as the Max Allegri revolution but he has certainly helped Juventus kick on. The pieces slotted together; they won Serie A at a canter and a first Coppa Italia in 20 years. In the Champions League they were much better given their ability to adapt formations and strategies by the game and sometimes by the minute.
There would, already, be few reasonable gamblers backing against Juve to retain their domestic crown next season by some considerable distance. No one else comes close in that championship. What this season's Champions League campaign proved is that Juve have taken a decisive step out of the confines of Serie A and catapulted themselves back into an elite band of European teams which includes Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich.
They beat one this season and gave the other a close match in this final. That is the company in which they now belong. Next season the job is sustaining it.
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