Sunday, February 15, 2009

Juventus F.C. - European stage

Michel Platini holding the Ballon d'Or in bianconeri colours.

The Trapattoni-era was highly successful in the 1980s, the Old Lady started the decade off well, winning the league title three more times by 1984. This meant Juventus had won 20 Italian league titles and were allowed to add a second golden star to their shirt, thus becoming the only Italian club to achieve this. Around this time the club's players were garnering attention on a large scale; Paolo Rossi was made European Footballer of the Year and had led Italy to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Frenchman Michel Platini was also awarded the European Footballer of the Year title for three years in a row; 1983, 1984 and 1985, which is a record. Juventus are the only club to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years. Indeed it was Platini who scored the winning goal in the 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool, however this was marred by a tragedy which would change European football; the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 people (mostly Juventus fans) were killed by the stadium wall collapsing when Liverpool supporters rioted, it has been named "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions" and resulted in the banning of all English clubs from European competition.

With the exception of winning the closely contested Italian Championship of 1985–86, the rest of the 1980s were not very successful for the club. As well as having to contend with Diego Maradona's Napoli, both of the Milanese clubs Milan and Inter won Italian championships. In 1990, Juventus moved into their new home; Stadio delle Alpi which was built for the 1990 World Cup.

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