Juve in seventh heaven after surviving bumpy road to glory

MILAN - Juventus' seventh successive Serie A title was not as emphatic as some of their previous campaigns and it took a mixture of luck, cunning and sheer bloodymindedness to see it through as the Turin giant was pushed all the way by a gallant Napoli.

There was plenty of suffering along the way but Juve always seemed to muddle through - whether it was with a contentious penalty at bottom club Benevento, a stoppage-time winner at Lazio or two goals in the last five minutes to beat Inter Milan.

"We know how to suffer. We made life more complicated for ourselves and then we managed to turn it around," said defender Andrea Barzagli after Juve's 3-1 win at home to Bologna last week.