AP, Rome :
Juventus clinched its fifth straight Serie A title with three matches to spare after Napoli was beaten 1-0 at Roma on Monday, capping an impressive run after a difficult start to the season.
Juventus won 2-1 at Fiorentina on Sunday and Napoli needed to beat Roma to prevent the Bianconeri from celebrating.
It’s the first time a team has won Serie A after losing four of its opening 10 matches.
“I always say that you grow amid hardships, so considering our path, I’ve got even more pride,” Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri wrote on Twitter.
Allegri also attached a tweet he made in August: “Serie A isn’t a 100-meter final; it’s a marathon: You need to be patient to find the right rhythm.”
Radja Nainggolan scored for Roma one minute from the end on a play that began with Roma’s 39-year-old captain Francesco Totti.
Juventus leads Napoli by 12 points, with Roma two points further back in a tight race for second and the last direct berth in the Champions League.
“Now we’ve got to win all of the remaining matches,” Nainggolan said.
It was Juve’s 32nd Italian league title – not including the two honors that were taken away after the 2006 match-fixing scandal known as Calciopoli.
Known as the “Old Lady” of Italian football, Juventus also became the first club to win five straight titles twice.
Without a match to attend, Juventus fans celebrated in Turin’s central Piazza San Carlo. Juventus players danced around at the club’s training center, wearing championship T-shirts with a big ’34’ on the back, which includes the two titles that were taken away.
Monday is Liberation Day in Italy, a national holiday.
Last-place Hellas Verona beat AC Milan 2-1 with a stoppage-time free kick from Luca Siligardi.
Giampaolo Pazzini equalized with a penalty in the second half after Jeremy Menez had given Milan an early lead. Milan has won only one of three matches since Cristian Brocchi replaced fired manager Sinisa Mihajlovic.
Also, Carpi moved out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over 10-man Empoli. Substitute Kevin Lasagna scored in the 85th.
Standouts Andrea Pirlo, Carlos Tevez and Arturo Vidal left Juventus after last season and the Bianconeri struggled with only one win in their opening six matches. But as the newly signed Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic began to make an impact, Juventus eventually turned things around.
Dybala leads Juve with 16 goals and the team hasn’t lost in Serie A since October – a run of 25 matches that includes 24 wins and one draw.
