My very personal wish to Juventus on her 120th birthday

Iconic Giovanni Trapattoni carried to victory in 1977 by Juventus players.
In the foreground: Causio, Scirea, and Cabrini.

In occasion of Juventus FC's 120th birthday, I want to take advantage of this platform to give you an account of what Juventus means to me.

I wrestled with the idea of writing this due to some of its very personal insights into my life, but I nevertheless believe that it's important that I share this story with my readers/followers.

Juventus represents for me a constant that bridged many of life's cliffs, providing thus safe passage to the other side of the abyss.

I began supporting Juventus because it was my best friend's team. I was 8 years old, and soon after I started supporting Juventus, she underwent a 9-year scudetto drought. I didn't know major victories while I supported the bianconeri in Italy, as a child. I didn't know what it meant to live a magical Wednesday night of Champions Cup football. I didn't know any of that. Yet I loved her still. 

Salvatore Schillaci, my childhood hero, playing for Juventus in 1990

The victories that followed, however, were all the sweeter because of those first nine years.

Being passionate about Juventus before her victories of the mid-1990s made supporting her in the darkest hour easy. The belief that Juventus would resurrect from the ashes of Calciopoli carried me through.

Juventus bridged my adolescence to my adult life, and never left. Because I never left her. To me Juventus is youth, yet carries over a century of tradition. A fascinatingly beautiful Old Lady. Juventus has budded many of my friendships, with fellow juventini and non. This meant a lot for one who has had to start life over at least twice, in a major way. Juventus is an inextricable part of my life, and dare I say she was, for some period, my "life”. 

I’ll leave off with a quote by Jean Cau, who eloquently describes what Juventus means for many of its fans:

“Juventus is adored by fans who are jealous of her, watch her step by step, know all of her virtues but are ready to reproach impetuously her slightest defects, compel her to be beautiful and forever young despite her age, they criticize when she disappoints but they fall on their knees when, right after the adultery of defeat she returns to them with a victory. In short, Juventus is a woman, a lover and a mother at the same time. She’s Venus that sometimes cuckolds you and at the same time the ever-virgin Madonna. Pagan and Catholic at the same time”.

Happy 120^th Birthday, Madama.

Gianluca Vialli raises the Champions League cup aloft in Rome's sky in 1995