It may be their arch-rivals Inter Milan who introduced the world to catenaccio yet it’s Juventus who are synonymous with defensive solidity. Their name alone conjures up images of formidable, street-smart centre-backs, bolstering a structure based on the immutable premise that thou-shall-not-pass.
Between 1966 and 1986, the Zebras conceded just 0.9 goals per 90 in Serie A. That’s a goal every 118 minutes across two decades.
In 2015/16 they broke an Italian top-flight record by going 974 minutes without conceding.
Picking out ten of the best defenders therefore is a difficult task, with great figures such as Ernesto Castano, Francesco Morini, Andrea Barzagli and Lilian Thuram just missing out.
Leonardo Bonucci
Inducted into Juve’s Hall of Fame in 2025, Bonucci began his career as a midfielder and initially struggled at the back, committing so many high-profile errors they collectively accrued a term of their own.
They were known as ‘Bonucciate’, roughly implying in translation that the player was ‘tranquil’, or more pertinently, lackadaisical.
After a remarkable transformation into one of the best centre-backs in world football the 121-cap Italian international then became associated with another moniker. He was ‘Beckenbonucci’. The Italian Beckenbauer.
Forming a partnership with Giorgio Chiellini that became the cornerstone of huge success for both club and country, Bonucci worked on his game, trait on trait, until he became a defender without any flaws.
Sergio Brio
Brio is one of the less familiar names on this list beyond the Peninsula and that should surprise because his playing style was instantly recognisable, to British eyes at least.
There was little cuteness in the manner in which he out-muscled opponents. Instead, he was physical and combative, relishing one-on-one duels which is why he was so often deployed to man-mark the most feared strikers around out of contests.
He was Jack Charlton. He was Terry Butcher. That ilk, but better.
Paolo Montero
It is fair to say that Ryan Giggs came up against a multitude of magnificent full-backs and centre-backs across his long and esteemed career. It was Montero though who he subsequently picked out as the toughest of them all.
In 186 outings for I Bianconeri the Uruguayan gave no quarter, winning the ball fairly if possible. If not, so be it. No player in Serie A history has been sent off more, the fearsome stopper seeing red 16 times.
Yet Montero was infinitely more than an everyday hatchet-man. Admired for his composure and sublime reading of danger, he helped Juve reach three Champions League finals and claim four Scudettos.
Sandro Salvadore
One of the finest ever liberos in a country that cherishes them, Salvadore’s captaincy and elegance helped guide Gli Azzurri to a 1968 Euro Championship success.
Alas, at club level the Milanese defender’s timing was uncharacteristically off, playing in a period that fell between two vintage Juve sides.
Before him was the legendary late-Fifties collective, featuring the ‘Magical Trio’ of John Charles, Omar Sivori and Giampiero Boniperti. After came sustained dominance under Giovanni Trapattoni.
Granted, the Zebras still claimed three Serie A titles in Salvadore’s era but there were plenty of fourths and fifths too. Juventus were merely very good, not exceptional.
Salvatore was though. The exception to the rule.
Ciro Ferrara
Having won two Scudettos with a Maradona-inspired Napoli, the Naples-born defender moved to Turin, where he became one of only two men to ever captain Juventus to a European Cup/Champions League triumph.
That side, in 1995/96, was itself inspired by an attacking genius, Alessandro Del Piero scheming and delighting his way into club legend, but it was the defence that elevated Marcello Lippi’s team into the realms of greatness.
The same goes for Carlo Ancelotti’s creation that came next.
Across this decade-long era it is possible to celebrate a plethora of fantastic centre-backs who stood firm for the Zebras, from Cannavaro to Pessotto; Igor Tudor to Lilian Thuram.
All partnered Ferrara, never each other.
Fabio Cannavaro
To be clear, the Ballon d’Or and World Cup winner would be much higher on this list were it not for the relatively short period in which he played in Turin.
Already well on his way to securing a record haul of Italian caps by the time he joined Juve, aged 31, Cannavaro’s levels somehow went up a notch, partnering first an aging Ferrara, then Thuram, to back-to-back title triumphs.
In helping to achieve this, the player mined a quite astonishing degree of consistency and excellence. For two years at the Stadio delle Alpi he was peerless. Magnificent.
Yet sadly – aside from personal merits, such as also winning the Serie A Footballer of the Year award in 2005 – his defensive feats ultimately counted for little as the Calciopoli scandal took hold.
Juventus were stripped of both titles with Cannavaro soon after moving to Real Madrid.
Antonio Cabrini
One of the very best full-backs of his, or any, generation, Cabrini made just shy of 300 appearances for I Bianconeri, his powerful foraging down their left adding an extra attacking dimension to a side already well-stocked with threats.
Indeed, it has been argued that the player nicknamed Bell'Antonio, for his good looks, revolutionised his role, so eager was he to scamper forward and overlap, his crossing never less than brilliant.
That’s not to say he didn’t excel too at the fundamental elements of his craft. Cabrini was a tenacious tackler, his blistering pace from a standing start often proving invaluable.
All things considered, it is little wonder Juve justified their short price in the sports betting six times over during his tenure, by topping Serie A.
Giorgio Chiellini
On retiring, 425 games strong for Juve alone, Chiellini was described as a ‘superhero’ by his club on their socials.
Others have labelled him, many times over, a ‘gladiator’.
When you become as iconic a figure as he, superlatives such as ‘amazing’ or ‘fantastic’ no longer cut it. We look to fantasy and the past.
An integral part of Antonio Conte’s ‘Turin Wall’ and beloved by Massimiliano Allegri, the defender’s doggedness, leadership, and proactive protection buttressed Juventus through a time of unparalleled domination domestically.
In fact, for a good while they may as well have postponed all football betting on the Pensinsula, as the Zebras romped to nine straight titles.
Claudio Gentile
At the risk of succumbing to lazy stereotype the ironically named Gentile was born and raised in Tripoli, Libya, before moving, aged eight, to Noto, a beautiful, but decidedly sketchy, area of Sicily.
He did not therefore play on immaculately manicured pitches where youngsters said, ‘No, I insist, after all’. He was never going to be a creative sort, full of tricks and flicks, who dipped in and out of games.
Instead, every match was a war, with Gentile a general. He was brutal, uncompromising if we’re being generous.
Indeed, there are scores of former players who possess marks on their Achilles to this day from how uncompromising he was.
Gentile’s reputation as a hardman went global at the 1982 World Cup when he kicked Diego Maradona to kingdom come – receiving only a yellow for his troubles – and ripped Zico’s shirt.
Gaetano Scirea
Quite simply the Don of Italian defending and in many ways the antithesis of his long-standing partner Gentile.
Whereas ‘Gaddafi’ – so nicknamed because of his ruthless stance and Libyan heritage – took no prisoners on the pitch, Scirea had no requirement to submit to combat. His immaculate reading of the game and clockwork timing saw to that.
Unquestionably one of the greatest liberos football has ever produced, Scirea was the defensive fulcrum of Trapattoni’s all-conquering side that won six Serie A titles and a European Cup. It also possibly matters that he was a consummate gentleman and professional, imbued with ‘Lo shile Juve’ (the Juventus way).
His tragic passing in a car accident, aged just 36, when scouting for the club post-retirement, is still felt in the city today.
