Juventus’ Serie A Odds Slip to +110 After Ronaldo Leaves for Man U; Inter Now +300
- Portuguese superstar returns to Old Trafford as Juve loses its leading Serie A goalscorer
- Inter lost Lukaku to Chelsea but appears strong enough to retain title it won last season
- See the odds, analysis and best bets for Italy’s Serie A winner with Juventus still ahead of Inter
Juventus has become a more uncertain favorite to win Italy’s Serie A after the loss of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United on Friday.
In the latest transfer to stun the soccer world this summer, Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford where he made his name as a global icon between 2003 and 2009.
Although it finished fourth last season, Juventus had been a -110 favorite to win the back the prize from Inter Milan in odds quoted by DraftKings as recently as August 21. Earlier in pre-season, it had been a -125 favorite.
Italy Serie A Winner Odds
Team | Odds |
---|---|
Juventus | +110 |
Inter Milan | +300 |
Atalanta | +550 |
Napoli | +1000 |
Roma | +1100 |
AC Milan | +1400 |
Lazio | +2800 |
Sassuolo | +1500 |
Fiorentina | +2500 |
Sampdoria | +25000 |
Udinese | +50000 |
Bologna | +50000 |
Verona | +50000 |
Cagliari | +80000 |
Torino | +100000 |
Empoli | +100000 |
Spezia | +100000 |
Genoa | +100000 |
Salernitana | +100000 |
Venezia | +100000 |
Odds as of August 28 at DraftKings
Now Juventus remains the most favored team. But its’ price has shifted to a less dominant +110 in the latest title Serie A odds. Inter, furthermore, is at +300. Meanwhile, Atalanta is priced at +550 with Napoli at +1000.
Nine Succesive Victories
Inter’s odds, moreover, have moved inwards from +350 on August 21 – the first weekend of the new campaign.
Juventus was champion for nine successive seasons until it was usurped by Inter last season.
Ronaldo Led Two Title Triumphs
Ronaldo was instrumental in two of those triumphs in 2018-19 and 2019-20 . He joined the Turin giants from Real Madrid in 2018.
However, he was unable to help the club win the Champions League.
Furthermore, Juventus finished in fourth place last season even though 36-year-old Ronaldo was the leading goal scorer in Serie A last season with 29 goals.
So, significantly, he decided it was time to move on with Juventus keen to remove his massive salary from their wage bill.
BREAKING: #MUFC have confirmed they have reached an agreement to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 27, 2021
With only one match played, Juventus sat in 10th place after a disappointing 2-2 draw at Udinese last weekend.
Ronaldo –appeared as a substitute after 60 minutes.
Main title rivals Inter, meanwhile, made a more impressive start with a 4-0 home win against Genoa. It then subsequently followed up with a 3-1 victory at Hellas Verona on Friday.
Inter, too, has lost a talismanic goalscorer this season – with Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku having departed for Chelsea.
So it is easy to argue that the playing field remains in more or less the same balance as it was in pre-season.
Two-Horse Race In Prospect
And, certainly, the title battle will only be a two-horse race.
Inter’s Argentine forward Lauturo Martinez scored 17 Serie A goals last season.
However, despite the fact that Inter also lost impressive full-back Achraf Hakimi to Paris Saint-Germain, it looks to be in a stronger position than Juventus right now.
Argentine forward Lauturo Martinez scored 17 Serie A goals last season and looks ready to go from strength to strength – scoring against Verona on Friday.
Meanwhile, veteran forward Edin Dzeko made a goal-scoring start in the 4-0 defeat of Genoa after he arrived from Roma.
Furthermore, two of the goals against Verona were scored by the Argentine forward Joaquin Correa who has signed on loan from Lazio with a view to a permanent move.
New coach Simeone Inzaghi is being seen as a shrewd replacement for Antonio Conte, who departed last May.
Ronaldo has nothing but love for Juventus 🤝 @brfootball pic.twitter.com/ANSAAueG5P
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 27, 2021
Juventus will now, in particular, look towards Spanish striker Alvaro Morata to fill the goal-scoring gap left by Ronaldo.
However, Morata – who is on loan from Atletico Madrid – managed only 11 Serie A goals last season. So he has a huge task to fill the boots of the departed Portuguese superstar.
Move for Hazard or Werner?
Meanwhile, Juventus is also said to be eyeing up Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard as a potential replacement for Ronaldo, along with Chelsea’s Timo Werner.
Neither player, however, did anything spectacular last season.
Joaquin Correa 🇦🇷 scores for Inter Milan just 9 minutes after coming on!🔥 #Inter pic.twitter.com/f85rlLotgC
— RouteOneFootball (@Route1futbol) August 27, 2021
Italian international midfielder Federico Chiesa contributed eight league goals for Juventus – on loan from Fiorentina – last season. So, undoubtedly, he will have to take on extra responsibility, too.
Meanwhile, more goals must now be expected from the Argentine forward Paolo Dybala who struck just four times in Serie A in 2020-21.
Allegri’s Return to Turin
Although hugely successful coach Massimiliano Allegri has returned to Juventus following the ousting of Andrea Pirlo, there have, significantly, been no major new signings by the Turin outfit.
Ronaldo’s statistics in the 2019-20 title triumph were impressive with 31 goals and six assists.
Certainly, Juventus will undoubtedly miss Ronaldo’s goal-scoring exploits. But nevertheless, they can console themselves with the fact that he was no great shakes at delivering assists last season; creating only two goals for his teammates.
His statistics in the 2019-20 title triumph were more impressive with 31 goals and six assists in Serie A.
Juventus 'plot Hazard move from Real Madrid' to replace Man Utd-bound Ronaldo https://t.co/gAPNuLrOJs
— Sun Sport (@SunSport) August 27, 2021
In the 2018-19 title win, he scored 21 times and delivered nine assists. So, emphatically, Juventus has lost a large part of its armory.
In conclusion, then, that will prove to be too big a setback for Juventus. Inter now looks to have more strength in depth and more goals in the squad.
Pick: Inter Milan + 300