Massimiliano Allegri: Juventus re-appoint former manager
Juventus have re-appointed Massimiliano Allegri as manager following the departure of Andrea Pirlo.
Pirlo left the club after just one season in charge, where he could only guide them to a fourth-placed finish in Serie A, ending a run of nine successive titles.
Five of those came in Allegri’s glittering first spell, where between 2014 and 2019 he also won four doubles and took Juve to two Champions League finals.
The Bianconeri have again turned to the 53-year-old in a bid to regain domestic power.
They said in a statement on their official website: “Massimiliano Allegri is the Juventus manager once more.
“Allegri finds a bench that he knows very well, a club that he loves and that loves him back, as today a new journey begins together, towards new goals.
“What he achieved in his first adventure at Juventus is engraved in the club’s history: from five Scudetti to the four consecutive doubles, coupled with the Coppa Italia and to the two Super Cups, reaching two Champions League finals in just three seasons, in what were epic feats both in Italy and in Europe.
“We said goodbye two years ago with the message, “History Alone”, the message on the back of the shirt given to Massimiliano Allegri by President Andrea Agnelli with an embrace and a shirt, on which in just two words encapsulated Allegri’s experience at Juve.
“The beauty of the story, however, is that it never stops. And in football, this means a concept that we have ingrained in our DNA: the best victory is the next one. Always.
“And now we are ready to begin again with Allegri, to build our future together; with his enormous professionalism, his moral strength, with the brilliant ideas of a coach capable of shuffling the cards, both on and off the pitch. With his smile, a sort of ‘signature’.
“With his way of understanding football and life with simplicity, with his desire to play things down and with the commitment to enjoy every beautiful moment that being at Juventus can give and will give.”
Allegri returns following Pirlo’s sacking, with the 45-year-old only appointed as Maurizo Sarri’s replacement in September.
Pirlo did win the Italian Super Cup and Coppa Italia, but it was not enough to keep his job.
He received a heartfelt goodbye from the club he represented 164 times over a four-year period.
Juventus added: “Thanks Andrea. These are the first words that all of us must pronounce at the end of this special experience lived together.
“A few months ago Andrea Pirlo, an icon of world football, began a new adventure on the Juventus bench, his first as a coach.
“To do this, first of all it takes courage, as well as awareness of one’s own means, especially in a period marked by many difficulties, with the world forced by the pandemic to reinvent its own rules day after day.
“Andrea did it too: he started (and we are sure of this: his will be a brilliant career as a coach) a journey of transformation, seeking, and often managing, to bring his ideas and his experience as a champion on the pitch from the “Other side” of the barricade.
“For the courage, the dedication, the passion with which he demonstrated every day, our thanks go to the ‘Maestro’, the coach and to Andrea, that really comes from the heart, as well as our good luck for the future that will surely be a wonderful one.”
Juve are one of several top clubs in Europe set to have a managerial change this summer, with Antonio Conte leaving Inter Milan and Zinedine Zidane exiting Real Madrid.
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