With the Bianconeri renowned for being a defensive team who play the typical catenaccio football I found choosing this defence extremely hard but this is my best Juventus defence ever.
Goalkeeper
Dino Zoff
Although Gianluigi Buffon is an extremely good goalkeeper, Dino Zoff was even better and is regarded by some as the best goalkeeper EVER. Zoff is in the record books for the oldest player to lift the World Cup aged 40 in 1982 but this isn't the only record he holds as he holds the record for longest time without conceding a goal in international games which stands at 1142 minutes. That was just his international career and his Juve career was just as good as he won six Serie A titles, two Italian cups and a Uefa cup.
Right Back
Lilian Thuram
Arguably one of the best right backs ever and definitely one of the best defenders of his time. The Frenchman won four Serie A titles at Juve in just five years. Not only was his Juventus career fruitful so was his international career. He won the World Cup in 1998 in France and the Euro's in 2000. He was recently announced the most capped player ever for France.
Centre Back
Gaetano Scirea
Unfortunately this guy was never able to completely finish his Juventus career as he tragically died in a car crash in 1989 but never the less he had an amazing Juventus career. Captain of the great 1985 Juventus team that won the Champions League. Scirea was just as good defensively as he was going forward and this showed when he helped set up Marco Tardelli's second goal in the 1982 World Cup final which Italy went on to win. All of this makes it easier to understand why so many people say that this legend was the best Italian defender of all time.
Centre Back
Claudio Gentile
If you thought Joey Barton or Pepe were the toughest players ever you have obviously never heard of Claudio Gentile, with players needing to change their pants when they saw this guy running towards them he easily beats the other two to the toughest player ever. A key figure in the 1982 World Cup victory, Gentile was given the role that nobody wanted, to mark Maradona. But Gentile done what no one else was ever able to do and this was to not give Maradona a sniff of a chance. Gentile man marked Maradona so good that Maradona afterwards said "he was my shadow". He also had to deal with Brazil's Zico in the same tournament. The result was the same however Zico returned with a shirt that was completely ripped in half. Claudio Gentile also had a great Juventus career spending eleven years at the Bianconeri winning six Scudetti.
Left Back
Antonio Cabrini
Antonio Cabrini or more commonly known as Bell'Antonio for his appearance was a fantastic wing back and he almost reached the 450 appearances mark for Juventus. He was a very successful player winning near enough every trophy possible including the ones most people can only dream of the World Cup and the Champions League.
Make sure you stay tuned for part 2 where I will announce what I think is the best Juventus midfield ever.
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