When that season ended someone had said on FIF that future generations will look at the table and think this was a close title fight while in reality Juve walked on the title after Lazio collapse and secured the title on matchday 36. This is what's happening here.
The bigger problem is that, post-COVID restart, we had several games where late leads were squandered. No, you can't just look at the Gagliardini miss against Sassuolo and say "82 + 2 = 84 > 83" when we all know Juventus had a 7-point lead with two games left and it shrunk because we won our last two and they lost their last two, but you can say:
MD27 vs. Sassulo: led 2-1, conceded equalizer in 81', retake the lead in 86', concede another equalizer in 89'. Two points lost.
MD30 vs. Bologna: led 1-0 and Bologna playing with 10 men, then concede equalizer, Bastoni gets a red, concede winning goal at 80'. Three points lost.
MD31 @ Verona: led 2-1, concede equalizer in 86'. Two points lost.
MD35 vs. Fiorentina: 0-0 draw. Two points missed out on.
We did steal a late point away to Roma on MD34 with a goal in 87'. One point saved.
Sassuolo finished 8th, Bologna 12th, Verona 9th, Fiorentina 10th, so not relegation-level teams but mid-table teams. Three of those games at home. But that's a net of six points we lost from goals scored in the 80th minute or later, and all of them before Juventus clinched the Scudetto on MD36. Don't cough those games up, and we're still in it with a shout entering the last two match days (Juve would've still had a 1-point lead in this scenario).
But our inability to hold late leads that season and the Giroud debacle from the home derby in 2022 are why the 2021 Scudetto is a one-off and not in the middle of three straight Scudetti like it easily could've been. Oh well.
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