Juventus sacked Maurizio Sarri on Saturday, one day after the Champions League elimination. The Italian record champion did not have to look for a successor for long. Andrea Pirlo is the new T1.
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The Old Lady did win – with great difficulty – the ninth Italian title in a row this season, but became Friday ingloriously eliminated in the 1 / 8th finals of the Champions League by Lyon. Juve won the second leg 2-1 thanks to two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, but had lost the first leg 1-0 a few months ago.
Again, no European triumph for the club from Turin, which has been waiting for a Champions League victory since 1996. Since then, they have lost no fewer than five times in the final (1997, 1998, 2003, 2015 and 2017).
Max Allegri was sidelined last summer and Sarri was brought in to bring beautiful (er) football. Like he did at Napoli. But the Italian ex-banker never really managed to get Juventus on track and now pays for European failure with his resignation.
In Italy there was immediate speculation about Sarri’s successor. Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi, former Tottenham coach Maurizio Pochettinco, Real coach Zinedine Zidane and – yes – Massimiliano Allegri were mentioned. But later in the day, the Old Lady announced, somewhat surprisingly, that Andrea Pirlo is taking over.
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