3 Christmas Wishes for Juventus Fans

The Serie A winter break provides an ideal time to reflect on the progress of each club thus far, and for Juventus, there is much to look back on.

The reigning champions struggled as 2015/16 began, but they have rallied in the last two months to launch a genuine defence of their title.

Having won their last seven matches, the improvements have been in no small part due to the patience and decisions of Massimiliano Allegri. The impact of the coach was discussed previously here, but the man himself is under little doubt his side can improve, particularly after their difficult win over Carpi.

Conceding a goal in injury time that almost saw them throw the victory away, Allegri used his post-match interview to stress the importance of maintaining concentration when the season resumes in early January.

“What happened in the closing stages of the match will serve as a lesson for 2016, when we’ll need to maintain our focus better in the final minutes,” he said, per the club’s official website. “Now we've a well-deserved break, after which we need to keep working hard until 16 May.”

What follows is a look at what might help Italian football’s grand Old Lady achieve success in 2016, with three Christmas wishes for Juventus as they look to return to action in the best possible fashion.

Early-Season Defeats To Be Avenged

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The Bianconeri dropped points to Udinese, Chievo, AS Roma, Frosinone, Napoli and Inter in their disappointing start to the season.

Juventus will enter the new year knowing they will face each of those sides before the end of February and will hope to notch six victories.

Avenging those performances would see the champions make giant strides towards retaining their title, something every fan of the club would love to see.

Pep Guardiola’s Future to Distract Bayern Munich

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While Allegri has ensured his place on the Juventus bench, their next Champions League opponents have already announced a coaching change.

Set to face Bayern Munich in the last 16 of European football’s elite competition, the Italian side will do so knowing current boss Pep Guardiola has announced he will leave in the summer.

The German club also revealed last week that the former Barcelona coach will be replaced by Carlo Ancelotti next season, per BBC Sport.

With their two-legged tie set to begin on February 23, Juventus will hope to take advantage of any distraction or disruption caused by the news of Guardiola’s exit.

The Real Alvaro Morata to stand up

While events at Bayern Munich may help the Bianconeri, they will also need their own players to be at their best if they are to capitalise on it.

As discussed here, Mario Mandzukic has found form of late, and he will be keen to impress when lining up against his former club at the Allianz Arena.

However, Allegri will also hope to see Alvaro Morata back among the goals before then, with the Spanish striker struggling so far this term.

The former Real Madrid man was crucial to Juve's Champions League run last term, but he has found the net just three times in 2015/16 and supporters will wish to see him shine once again soon.

Having struck in both legs of the semi-final and the final itself a year ago, Morata has the pedigree to fire the Old Lady to glory, and seeing him do so once again might be the greatest Christmas gift of all.