The Juventus juggernaut rolls on

Secures sixth successive scudetto with win over Crotone

May 21, 2017 10:33 pm | Updated 10:33 pm IST - Milan

Right on top: Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci lifts the trophy as the rest celebrate their unprecedented sixth consecutive Italian title.

Right on top: Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci lifts the trophy as the rest celebrate their unprecedented sixth consecutive Italian title.

Juventus became the first team to win the Serie A six times in a row when it beat Crotone 3-0 on Sunday to clinch the title with one game to spare.

Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala, with a stunning free kick, and Alex Sandro shared the goals as the Turin side also won a league and cup double for the third time in a row and stayed on course for a treble.

Atalanta clinched fifth place and a spot in the Europa League group stage by winning 1-0 at Empoli and AC Milan made sure of sixth place, and a place in the Europa League qualifiers, by beating Bologna 3-0.

Juve’s win over its relegation-threatened opponent, took it to 88 points from 37 games, four clear of AS Roma which won 5-3 at Chievo on Saturday. Napoli is a further point behind in third, the Champions League playoff spot.

Juventus, which is Italy’s most successful side in domestic terms with 33 league titles, will face Real Madrid in the Champions League final on June 3 when it will attempt to complete the treble.

The sixth consecutive title is something extremely significant, said Juve’s 39-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who has won eight Serie A titles at the club.

“We have written indelible pages in the history of football,” he said.

Crotone had won five and drawn two of its last seven games as it made a late bid to escape the drop but was facing a Juventus side which has dropped only two points at home all season.

The visitors were able to resist for only 12 minutes until Mandzukic got in front of his marker to turn in Juan Cuadrado’s low cross at the far post.

Dybala curled in a stunning 25-metre free kick six minutes before half-time and Sandro completed the scoring in the 83rd minute with a header which hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and crossed the goal line by centimetres.

Crotone is 18th in the 20-team table but remains only one point behind Empoli, the team immediately above the drop zone.

Alejandro Gomez gave Atalanta an early lead at Empoli which was unable to find an equaliser and was foiled by an amazing double clearance off the line by Andrea Masiello just before the hour.

Milan had to wait until the last half hour for its goals against Bologna.

Gerard Deulofeu volleyed in from Matias Fernandez’s pass, Keisuke Honda curled in a free kick and Gianluca Lapadula completed the scoring in stoppage time.

Genoa, which has had a dreadful second half of the season, made sure of survival when it beat Torino 2-1 with goals from Luca Rigoni and Giovanni Simeone, the son of Atletico Madrid coach Diego.

The results: Empoli 0 lost to Atalanta 1 (Gomez 13); Genoa 2 (Rigoni 32, Simeone 54) bt Torino 1 (Ljajic 89); Juventus 3 (Mandzukic 12, Dybala 39, Sandro 83) bt Crotone 0; AC Milan 3 (Deulofeu 69, Honda 73, Lapadula 90+1) bt Bologna 0; Sassuolo 6 (Magnanelli 7, Berardi 12, Politano 13, Sensi 34, Iemmello 56-pen, Matri 90) bt Cagliari 2 (Sau 25, Ionita 60); Udinese 1 (Thereau 5) drew with Sampdoria 1 (Muriel 64-pen).

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