With the 2016 UEFA European Championship set to begin this week, it remains somewhat surprising that Italy—perennially among the favourites to win such an event—are widely expected to underperform in this summer’s edition of the tournament.

Indeed, according to the Oddschecker website, no fewer than six teams are believed to have more chance of lifting the trophy, with the Azzurri available at an eye-opening 18-1 with some bookmakers.

Among the major reasons for this, as Bleacher Report’s own Sam Lopresti explained in this previous post, is the makeup of the squad selected by Antonio Conte.

The coach has omitted men such as Sassuolo‘s Domenico Berardi, Franco Vazquez of Palermo and Napoli midfielder Jorginho, instead opting for uninspiring choices such as Emanuele Giaccherini (Bologna), Thiago Motta (Paris Saint-Germain) and Eder (Inter Milan).

Yet if the four-time World Cup winners—who have tasted European Championship glory on only one occasion—are to enjoy success in France, their hopes undoubtedly rest on the block of Juventus players that has travelled en masse as part of the Azzurri setup. 

Having moulded Gigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini into a watertight unit during his own time in the dugout of Italian football’s grand Old Lady, Conte explained at a recent press conference how fortunate he is to be able to reunite them in the national team.

“Definitely, for us the defence is a certainty from which we start,” Conte said. “I’ve worked with these lads for many years, and I hope they can pass everything on. We all hope that they’ll give us a major boost. I also hope they can repeat their success for the national team.”

The launch of their glory years in Turin coincided with the appointment of Conte in May 2011. Juventus turned to their former captain after finishing Serie A in seventh place for two consecutive seasons. 

“We won the Scudetto at the first time of asking and the success was all his,” Andrea Pirlo explained in his autobiography I Think, Therefore I Play (h/t BBC Sport), going on to label it “a triumph of bloody-mindedness that went beyond everyone’s expectations.”

They would add two more league titles before Conte left, as the Italian quit in the summer of 2014 and quickly took up his current role. What he left behind in Turin was a clear blueprint for success, one that remains intact even now—with Buffon and that trademark back three proving to be among the best defences ever assembled.

In their five title-winning campaigns, Juventus have conceded a total of just 111 goals, and while other players such as Stephan Lichtsteiner, Patrice Evra and Martin Caceres have featured heavily, it is the Italian quartet that forms the backbone of this almost impenetrable unit.

Over the 190 league games the club has played over the past five seasons, Buffon has missed just 22 and has managed to keep a staggering 96 clean sheets, but the trio in front of him have also been vital to that tally.

While the club captain has made 168 Serie A appearances over that period, Bonucci has recorded just two fewer, developing into a fine leader in the centre of that vaunted three-man back line as 2015/16 saw him become one of the best defenders in the world.

According to statistics taken from WhoScored.com, the 29-year-old averaged 1.1 tackles, 2.3 interceptions and 4.1 clearances per league game, also connecting with an impressive 87 per cent of his 63.6 pass attempts.

The same source shows that latter figure was a team-high, a fact that highlights Bonucci’s importance when Juve win possession, as the Viterbo native steps out into midfield with ease.

That was evident in Conte’s first game in charge of the national team, as Bonucci set up a goal for Ciro Immobile against the Netherlands (as seen in the video below).

He has weighed in with vital goals of his own this term, including a strike against former club Inter Milan and a penalty against the same opponent that sealed Juve’s place in the Coppa Italia final. Bonucci has also found the net for the Azzurri in qualifying for Euro 2016, scoring against Norway back in September 2014 to get the team on the road to France.

Yet his defence remains the main reason he is so highly regarded, with the block in the video below arguably deciding the destination of the Serie A title—his outstretched boot somehow denying Gonzalo Higuain the chance to score for Napoli.

Such play has won him many admirers, with Pep Guardiola featuring prominently among them. After his Bayern Munich side eliminated Juventus from the Champions League back in March, the Catalan coach felt prompted to tell reporters at his post-match press conference that Bonucci is “one of my favourite ever players.”

But he is of course not alone for club or country, and the man himself is clearly aware of the importance of playing beside his two team-mates in the national team, as he explained in a recent interview with the UEFA website (h/t Football Italia):

We know each other perfectly well having played together so well at Juventus, and when we get to the national team we don’t have to test too many defensive movements.

Giorgio and Andrea are two great champions, they can be very aggressive when we play with a three-man defence, while my role is to cover them when attackers press very well.

They’re two bulldogs, definitely among the best defenders in the world.

Despite both men struggling with injuries during 2015/16, the table below—compiled using statistics from WhoScored—shows both Barzagli and Chiellini still made a vital contribution to the success enjoyed by the Bianconeri.

Conte clearly has little doubts over their ability to maintain their club form when pulling on the blue shirt of Italy, with the quartet expected to start together with West Ham United’s Angelo Ogbonna—himself a former Juventus player—in reserve on the bench.

“It’s definitely an advantage to be able to count on three or four Juventus players who have played together for a long time,” Conte told UEFA‘s official website (h/t Football Italia). “They know each other perfectly. Of course we’ll try to build something spectacular on these solid foundations, because we also want to play attacking football. Balance will be important.”

While it remains to be seen if Italy do look to take the game to Belgium, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland, Barzagli believes that the Bianconeri core—which set a new Serie A record by going 10 matches without conceding a goal—will at least give confidence to the rest of the side.

“Our defence is well-drilled, as we’ve been playing together for a very long time,” the 35-year-old told a press conference earlier this month. “We therefore feel confident around each other and hopefully that confidence spreads to the rest of the team. Hopefully we can be one of the strongest defences in Euro 2016.”

Given the lack of options ahead of them after Conte’s squad choices, the hopes of Italy adding to their 1968 European Championship triumph rest on the shoulders of the Juventus defence. Fortunately, the last five years have proved they are strong enough to carry them.

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