THE VITALS:

Team: Juventus

Brand: Nike

Era: 2013-14 (Used for the 2013 Supercoppa Italiana, and the 2013-14 Serie A season)

Name/Number: Pogba #6

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

Had the sponsor regrettably not been coming away, I would have no doubt saying this shirt is in excellent condition! The shirt material, Nike swoosh, club crest and the name and numbering however are all still in fine order.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Large

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19.5 inches

Shirt Length: 29.5 inches 

Made by Nike in their series of ‘Dri-Fit’ shirts which they introduced in 2013; these dimensions suggest that this shirt may be also be ideal for a size medium.

DESCRIPTION:

The penultimate Juventus home shirt made by Nike echoed memoires of the home shirt used for the 2009-10 season with the main body leaning more on the side of the ‘Bianconeri’, while a white v-neck collar was again (the first of which since that very season) employed amidst heavily striped sleeved; albeit with a more balanced stripe output in contrast to the mostly white sleeves employed for its predecessor. Unlike that ill-fated in the club’s history; the 2013-14 season will go down as one of the club’s finest in Serie A as they broke the Serie A points record following their 92 point haul which sealed a third consecutive Scudetto! This season would also be the final of Antonio Conte’s three legendary season’s in charge of Juventus. This would also be the first Juventus home shirt worn by Carlos Tevez, and was the last for Fabio Quagliarella and Mirko Vucinic – both of whom were integral parts of the Juve’ renaissance in 2011! This shirt was also worn as the Supercoppa Italiana was successfully defended on 18/08/13 when they beat Lazio 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico!

THE SEASON:

While it wasn’t the unbeaten title romp and cup final run of 2011-12; the 2012-13 season saw Juventus successfully retain the Scudetto while also adding the Supercoppa Italiana to the trophy cabinet – their first since 2003. In the UEFA Champions League, while they enjoyed a fine victory over defending champions – Chelsea, in the Group Stage; they were comprehensively beaten both home and away by the eventual winners – Bayern Munich in the quarter final, which nevertheless, was their best performance in the competition since reaching the quarter final in 2006!

The quest for a prolific goal-scorer saw two huge summer arrivals in the form of Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez, with the former Athletic Club man being the latest of Juve’s shrewd free transfer captures, while Tevez ended his 7 year stay in the Premier League to move to the Juventus Stadium, and lastly, Angelo Ogbonna who had been impressing for city rivals – Torino, made the cross-town move in a €13 million capture! The arrivals of the new strikers meant that Alessandro Matri was sold to AC Milan, while Emmanuele Giaccherini moved to Sunderland after impressing for Italy at the Confederations Cup that summer, and Felipe Melo made his move to Galatasaray permanent.

Juventus’ title defence got underway on 24^th August 2013 as Carlos Tevez scored his first Serie A goal in a 1-0 win away versus Sampdoria, before putting 4 goals past Lazio for the second time in less than two weeks to earn a 4-1 win at home! In the ‘Derby D’Italia’ versus Inter on 14^th September, they would drop their first points as the national derby ended 1-1 at San Siro; however, the champions would go on to win their next 4 games, before meeting Fiorentina on 20^th October, where they lost their first game of the season. That defeat would ignite the torch paper as they won each of their remaining 9 league games in 2013 to lead the way by 5 points ahead of the New Year and a 5^th January clash with 2^nd place Roma!

Juve would punish a 9-man Roma by a 3-0 score-line at home and would extend their winning run to 12 games, before Lazio held them to a 1-1 draw on 25^th January. Juventus would also put 3 past Inter in the return fixture at home on 2^nd February, and then the 3-1 win over Chievo a fortnight later set the tone for another 7 match winning run – extending their unbeaten streak to 22! Napoli would hold the distinction of inflicting Juve’s second defeat of the season on 30^th March, however, this would prove nothing more as an aberration as Juventus won each of their remaining 7 league games to successfully defend the Scudetto and break the Serie A points total as they earnt 102 points to win the title by a clear distance of 17 points!

In the domestic cup competitions, Juventus successfully defended the Supercoppa Italiana – matching their feat in 2002 and 2003 when they last did so, following a 4-1 win over Lazio in the Italian football curtain raiser in Rome! The Coppa Italia however represented their worst showing of the Antonio Conte era as they were eliminated in the quarter final by Roma.

The European front would be a disappointment on all fronts. Firstly, after being drawn in Group B alongside – Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen and Real Madrid; they would win just once, and although their match-day 6 decider for 2^nd place versus Galatasaray had to be played a day late after adverse weather conditions – there would be no excuse as they fell 1-0 in Istanbul and were relegated to the Europa League.

The UEL however, would have the incentive of a final that was set to take place at Juventus’ very own Juventus Stadium on 14^th May, and ironically, their quest began in the Round of 32 against Turkish opposition in the form of – Trabzonspor, whom they eliminated 4-0 on aggregate. After seeing off Fiorentina in the Last 16, they would get past Lyon 3-1 on aggregate to set up a semi-final versus the Europa League runners-up in 2013 – Benfica. The Portuguese side would claim a stunning 2-1 win in the 1^st Leg at home, and would hold out for a goalless draw in the 2^nd Leg to end Juventus’ dream of playing in the final at home.

The notable players that season were:

Dani Osvaldo, Fabio Quagliarella, Fernando Llorente, Carlos Tevez, Sebastian Giovinco, Mirko Vucinic, Mauricio Isla, Simone Padoin, Artuto Vidal, Kwadwo Asamoah, Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio, Simone Pepe, Paul Pogba, Stephan Lichsteiner, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli, Federico Peluso, Angelo Ogbonna, Martin Caceres, Giorgio Chiellini, Gianluigi Buffon, Marco Storari