Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
Italian Serie A and Cup winners Juventus FC today announced that Massimiliano Allegri has signed a contract renewal which will keep him at the club until 2020.
Today’s agreement extends a working relationship that has seen the Bianconeri consolidate their position as Italy’s top team and also evolve into one of European football’s major forces.
Since being appointed manager in the summer of 2014, the Bianconeri have won three Serie A titles, three Coppa Italia trophies and one Italian Super Cup. In doing so, the Tuscan has steered the club to three unprecedented feats in Italian football: six straight Scudetti, three consecutive national cups and three domestic doubles in a row.
Looking more closely into the numbers of his Juve reign so far, Allegri has won 84 out of 114 Serie A matches, taking an average 2.36 points per game for a grand total of 269. With the 49-year-old in charge, the Bianconeri have scored 224 and conceded just 71 goals.
In Europe despite defeat in last weekend’s Champions League final to Real Madrid in Cardiff, Allegri has undeniably transformed the club into a significant player on the continent. Two UCL finals in three years and fifth place in the UEFA ranking are clear testament to this.
Three years ago, Allegri inherited a team already used to winning, but with every match and training session, he has evolved the way they play and think on the field. Now this Juventus vintage is very much in his own image, brimming with technical quality, tactical flexibility and mental toughness.
Then there’s his extraordinary reading of the game, whether it’s making the right change during matches or even over the course of a campaign: two obvious examples are the way he stirred his team on to a history-making comeback in 2015/16 from mid-table obscurity in the Autumn to the Scudetto in April, while in January 2017 he revamped the formation to a 4-2-3-1, enabling his players to express themselves better than ever before. Courageous, intelligent, innovative, this decision had all the hallmarks of Allegri.
