OFFICIAL: Juventus sack Allegri for Italian Cup rampage

"Juventus announces that it has relieved Massimiliano Allegri from the role of coach of the men's first team," the Turin club said in a statement. "The dismissal follows certain behaviours during and after the Italian Cup final which the club deemed incompatible with the values of Juventus and those who represent it should have." The club wished Allegri, 56, "good luck in his future endeavours".

Allegri was sent off in the final minutes of Wednesday's 1-0 win against Atalanta for ranting at match officials and then dismissively waved away sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli during the post-match celebrations. Allegri, who won 12 trophies with Juventus over two spells as manager, is also alleged to have manhandled and threatened the chief editor of newspaper Tuttosport before the post-match press conference.

He had boiled with anger on the sidelines, ripping off his tie and jacket in the presence of John Elkann, the scion of the powerful Agnelli family and the CEO of the holding company Exor which controls Juventus and motor sport icon Ferrari.

Juve had already been widely reported to be replacing Allegri with Bologna coach Thiago Motta in the summer following an underwhelming season, but were pushed to announce their decision with two matches remaining in the current campaign.

Juventus sit fourth in Serie A, 25 points behind champions Inter Milan, after collecting just 15 points in their last 15 league matches and are at Bologna on Monday night, with the two teams already qualified for next season's revamped Champions League.

The Turin giants did not specify when asked by AFP whether they had dismissed Allegri with just cause, a move which would potentially save the club from paying the Italian the remaining year of his contract, worth around seven million euros ($7.6 milion) before bonuses.

The Italian Football Federation's disciplinary tribunal has launched an investigation into Allegri, who on Thursday was given an automatic two-match ban in the cup for his straight red card but could receive further punishment.

 

May 17, 2024

Disappointing return

Allegri was rehired in 2021 following the sacking of Andrea Pirlo, who presided over the end of Juve's domestic dominance, with Inter winning that year's league title. Juve had claimed the previous nine, with Allegri winning five in a row between 2014 and 2019 in his first spell in charge.

Four of those titles were accompanied by the Italian Cup as Juve, powered by increased revenues from owning their own stadium opened in 2011, moved to a level above their domestic rivals. Allegri also made Juve a force to be reckoned with in Europe, something which proved beyond his predecessor Antonio Conte and successors Pirlo and Maurizio Sarri.

He guided a star-studded team featuring the likes of Paul Pogba, Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo to two Champions League finals, both lost to Barcelona and Real Madrid as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ruled the continent. However his return to Piedmont after a two-year sabbatical has been far less successful, with Wednesday's cup victory over Atalanta Juventus' first trophy since Pirlo won the cup three years ago.

Allegri has had to deal with a series of problems and controversies since returning, chief among them the transfer scandal which led to Juventus being deducted 10 points last season and then banned from Europe for a year by UEFA for financial irregularities.

Juventus' entire hierarchy was swept away by that affair and Allegri is reported to have never had good relations with the new people in charge, as well as being unhappy at the club negotiating with Motta behind his back. Allegri was also at the helm for Ronaldo's stormy departure early in the coach's first season back and Paul Pogba's injury and doping violation travails.

 

May 17, 2024