Seven Reasons Why We Hate Juventus

“Hate having counted you number one. I hate being placed at number two!

But most of all, I hate you!”

Overkill, I Hate You.

Sports rivalries are one of the purest and most enjoyable aspects that we can find in this world and they often bring a lot of joy, heartache and a lot more. That team or that player you want to surpass, challenging in many ways, not only in sports matters, also in emotional psychological aspects, pushing you to be better in a much more intense way. Throw both rivals into the same city and you have something even more special, leading to competitions and discord among fans all year long. Of course, Roma enjoys that kind of rivalry with Lazio–both teams competing to see who is top dog in Rome (it’s Roma, by the way).

But there are rivalries that are a bit more unnerving. Much more visceral, if you will. Those rivals that just get under your skin, taunt you with their last minute goals from set-pieces, their pretentious supporters, their black and white uniform… oh, fuck it! We are talking about Juventus, alright? People hate Juventus!

Look, if you have been watching Serie A for many years and you support a club that it’s not Juve, you probably have a reason to hate them. Hell, you could be supporting Benevento and you probably have a reason to do so. It’s part of the Juventino DNA. But why is that? Why do we hate them so much? Well, we all have our reasons, but I have decided to give it a go before our match against them this weekend: seven reasons we hate Juventus. One for each league title in a row.

1. The referee decisions on their favor

Come on, this is a pretty obvious one and I think I can speak for the supporters of the other 19 clubs at Italy on this reason. We all have been there. Think back on the previous matches your club faced Juventus and you will find at least one bad referee decision doomed the match in Juve’s favor. Sure, referees are bound to make human mistakes from time to time but with Juventus it happens so much and so often in their favor that you can’t help but to hate them for that.

2. Their playing style.

Juventus has a very hateful virtue that they are capable of making you belief that you can get something out of their matches and then you end up empty-handed. It’s almost like the world’s worst magic trick: one minute is there, the next it’s gone.

Juventus are capable of playing pretty uninspiring football for 89 minutes and define the match with one minute of tactical prowess, individual talent or even sheer luck. We have seen that for so many times this season: teams seemed like they were going to get a draw. Perhaps even a victory. And then Dybala scores at the last second against Lazio (God, you’re useless).

3. Them taking players from rival clubs

Look, I cannot say “Pjanic” nowadays without saying “the traitor”–it’s the kind of thing that sticks with you. And it’s the same with other fans out there.

Juventus assembled a strong team based on every other club’s star performers, slowly but surely improving in every single aspect while weakening their most likely competition. Hell, even Buffon, captain and everything, was signed from a very strong Parma side back in 2001 by a then record fee for a goalkeeper. We don’t have to mention Benatia, Emerson, Vucinic, the traitor of Pjanic and many others.

4. Their knack of scoring at the last minute

This links up to the second reason, but it’s a bit different. In this aspect Juventus, like our very own Radja Nainggolan once famously said, has a very hateful and annoying ability of scoring in the last minute, basically ruining any team’s chance of getting a point or three out of these matches.

Add to that equation the fact that these goals are often the product of underserving play, lackluster performances, referees helping out or just a setpiece they scored out of nowhere…we can even dare to say this point connects a bit with all the previous ones, not just the second one, now that we have a second thought.

5. Their uniforms

Let’s be honest here, guys, this is an hideous color combination; they basically look like dudes that got out of prison and now they want to commit more felonies (and, well, that could be closer to the truth than we might think by looking at their matches). That black and white with stripes doesn’t look good in any format and doesn’t really emanate the kind of class a team of that level should present.

Plus, they look like a bunch of zebras too.

6. Their players are {redacted}

I mean, Chiellini, Benatia, Sturaro, Higuaín, Lichtsteiner, Mandzukic…that’s a high-quality list of assholes right there–add to that fact the ones that have been before at Juventus and you have a squad made of people you’d gladly punch right in the face. And I don’t think I’m the only one with that perception when you see how many conflicts these players get themselves into in most matches.

7. Luciano Moggi

All the people that have been watching Serie A for many years now have a pretty good understanding of the impact of Luciano Moggi’s match-fixing scandal back in 2006. This incident was not only massive in Italy, but also all over the world, tainting Juventus’ name and legacy as a team that needed to fix their own matches when they had a squad filled with world-class players.

Until that point there’s not much we can say about them in terms of hatred, but once you analyze that Juve’s match-fixing scandal had big ramifications in Serie A that still live on until this day, you start to grow some resentment towards the Old Lady. Serie A was THE league back in those days and in this scandal, slowly but surely, started to drain from the league’s image until it was a pale shadow of their former self circa-2013, now finding its feet once again.

All thanks to Juventus and Moggi, of course.

These are MY reasons, of course. I’m pretty sure that I missed some of yours, so pitch in and give us your own particular reason to hate those in black and white.