Let’s try to rewind Juventus’ last four years like a movie.
Let’s go back to the damned night of June 3, 2017. That night in front of Allegri, Agnelli and the club the most classic of the Sliding Doors opened: that night Juventus could win the final in Cardiff against Real Madrid, and return to the roof of Europe, or slip, once again, a few centimeters from the finish line and slowly disintegrate until you return to the starting point.
That night we all remember what happened: Cristiano Ronaldo’s advantage in the 20 ‘, Mandžukić’s spectacular overhead draw and the first half that ended at 1-1 with the feeling that perhaps, for the Bianconeri colors, it could finally be the right time.
It is in the locker room of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff that the Sliding Doors is staged, but in the least desired aspect ….
In the locker room at half-time something happens that everyone has denied and will deny forever because “what happens in the locker room must remain in the locker room”, but you can read it in the faces of the players, frightened, shaken, who return to the pitch with enormous anticipation. to those of Real Madrid, almost sent there by force by Allegri to stop something that was breaking. The mouths will remain sewn, but the field is clear: Juventus is no longer there and Real sweeps them away with four goals between 60 ‘and 90’. Another lost ending.
That night Allegri, after four years, wondered if his period was over, he was ready to go to the office the following Monday to resign but then he chose to stay. To try again. Stubbornly. How Juventus acts with the Champions League: always all-in just to bring it home.
In the following season, the seventh league title in a row arrives but, above all, another elimination from the Champions League (this time in the Quarterfinals) always at the hands of Real Madrid and Ronaldo who enchants at Allianz and signs the qualifying goal on a 97th minute penalty at the Bernabeu.
On 10 July 2018, Juventus decided to sign Ronaldo directly thinking of a hypothetical equation: Ronaldo stopped the last two years, finally winning with him. Marotta disagrees and breaks with society, on September 30 the divorce is official and Paratici is also promoted for having contributed decisively to bringing Cr7 to the shadow of the Mole. But the arrival of the Portuguese is not enough, in the Champions League we still stop at the quarters, this time against the Ajax of the prodigy De Ligt. Something also breaks in the management, it seems absurd but Ronaldo is not enough and the absence of a manager at Marotta weighs so much that Allegri turns on an alarm bell “5-6 reinforcements are needed” but the response of Nedved and Paratici (not shared by Agnelli) is: off the coach, change philosophy with Sarri …
Sarri arrives to change his philosophy but immediately commits two sensational mistakes: the first is to go and talk to Ronaldo right in his yacht, giving him all the importance possible and sending a negative message to the rest of the group to whom, and here the second mistake , after the friendly match with Tottenham he says “jokingly”: “But how did I lose two league titles against you”. It was July 21, 2019 and Sarri already practically lost possession of the Juventus dressing room, the absence of a figure at Marotta was felt even in that case. From that moment on, Juventus effectively became “untrainable” as Sarri whispered to someone, once exonerated, and the championship came by inertia, simply because that residual team was still the strongest. In the Champions League, needless to say, this time we stop at the Round of 16 which sanctioned the failure of the Sarri-Juventus relationship. Not of Sarri, not of Juventus, but of the relationship between two components who could never marry each other.
From Sarri we move on to Pirlo, another gamble, this time excessive by President Agnelli who, despite the midst of a decade of continuous success, seems distracted by something terribly bigger. And in fact, on April 19, 2021, the announcement of the official and silent birth of the SuperLega comes out, a bomb that has not stopped making noise yet. Pirlo had to bring back enthusiasm, Juventus, and instead officially opens the season of self-management of the locker room: the coach, initially destined for the under23, publicly (and guiltily) asks for help from the senators. And so from the bench the various Buffon, Bonucci and Chiellini, all additional coaches, shout and give directions on the pitch, paradoxically Pirlo is the most silent. This situation at Juve does not seem to be true for the “enemy” Conte and in the meantime he builds his revenge by winning the Scudetto with Inter, the Bianconeri only qualify for the Champions League thanks to a gift from Pharaohs on the last day. And, speaking of Champions, we stop once again in the Round of 16.
Now imagine that your departure from a workgroup creates chaos, and that your best friend who still works there asks you to come back, telling you that something has been lost since your departure and if you come back you can make it work again. Imagine accepting but, once you return, you realize the concept of “chaos” had been subtly sweetened and that in reality the situation has imploded but now you are back and you can no longer take a step back, it would be the end of your own credibility and career. Here: Massimiliano Allegri’s situation at this moment is exactly this. Recalled to bring order to the chaos that has erupted since his departure. The first two strong input immediately: “Bonucci the captain’s armband if he buys it at the market if he wants it” and “Ronaldo starts from the bench against Udinese, it will be the added value for the match in progress”. Immediately two jabs to make everyone understand who is in charge, but Ronaldo is not a dressing room man and ran away faster than light, apparently leaving Juventus open-mouthed, without the time to find a substitute at the height. The message, however, arrived in the locker room. To restore order, we need the full chaos that has now been achieved. We can start again, but that figure at Marotta is still missing, which will still be a void, not just, which risks complicating the work of both Cherubini and Allegri.
But one thing is certain: the technician from Livorno is the right man to find order out of chaos, but you need patience and …. halma.
Vincenzo Marangio – Radio Bianconera
–
