The fatal wrath of Massimiliano Allegri fell on everything and everyone on the night that handed Juventus the Italian Cup, making the Year Zero season also successful (copyright John Elkann). Deserved and not at all predictable victory with a shocking ending. The protagonist is the coach from Livorno, who will be leaving soon despite having one year remaining on his contract. First the dull anger unloaded on the fourth official and on the referee, guilty of having omitted a clear penalty that would have ended the dispute earlier. Then the search for the designer Rocchi in the stands (the two clarified almost immediately between smiles and hugs).
The worst, however, came then because the most sensational breakup took place on the pitch and in front of everyone’s eyes. Allegri removed the sporting director Giuntoli from the party with the players, refused his applause and then almost got into a physical confrontation with the director of Tuttosport, Guido Vaciago (unspeakable insults and threats) accused of not having told the truth in this long and tormented winter. In short, Allegri against everyone.
A burn out emotional that is difficult to accept for a professional of the coach’s experience and which cannot be explained only with the now acquired awareness that the black and white adventure is over. All the tensions that punctuated the impossible relationship between him, Giuntoli, a man called by the owners with a long-term project to re-found on the rubble of the last part of the old management, and the new Juventus simply came to the surface.
Allegri felt left alone, both in internal decisions and in dealing with external delegitimization. He is convinced that he has extracted the maximum possible value from an incomplete, young squad with technical and tactical limitations. The facts prove him right, because there were two objectives set at the beginning of the year and both were achieved: qualification for the Champions League, vital for the budget, and bringing a trophy home. Yet, while he was busy in the field, the management was already working on the future without taking it into consideration.
It may have been an uncomfortable situation to find yourself in, certainly not unheard of for those who manage large teams for a living: burdens and honours. The Roman mess will be a stain from which it will not be easy to get rid of even in the future: Max has not done himself a good service with the dramas on the pitch and in the belly of the Olimpico and with a little clarity he too will come to understand it.
Returning to the underlying malaise, the January transfer market, when there was the illusion of being able to go beyond the limits, was grotesque: a ready reinforcement was needed in midfield and a young player arrived on (expensive) loan with operation difficult to understand a priori and retrospectively and a defender in convalescence. The next Juventus coach will certainly have more. The point of no return in the internal dialectic, from what we understood, had long since been passed, reaching freezing point. A legacy that the next coach will also have to deal with, because with Allegri the Agnelli era also ends and the turnover has affected and will also affect the other figures who have been part of it in the sporting area.
Giuntoli’s Juventus was born a year late. Winning the Italian Cup raises the bar. It will be difficult to achieve a painless separation from Max, it will be impossible not to expect Thiago Motta or whoever for him to work while respecting the club’s DNA which always means aiming to win. Even if you don’t have the right tools.
ALL THE FOOTBALL NEWS ON PANORAMA
