Massimiliano Allegri's legacy at Juventus: Why his second stint at the club ended in turbulent failure

It's not easy to describe what Juventus meant for coach Massimiliano Allegri and what the manager's era meant for the club. Undoubtedly, he left a mark and will be remembered as one of the most successful coaches in the club's History, but his second stint at the club wasn't as successful as the first one. 

Allegri joined Juventus for the first time in the summer 2014, replacing Antonio Conte a few months after leaving AC Milan. After five successful seasons where he won five Serie A titles, four Coppa Italia and two Supercoppa Italia and also played in two Champions League finals in 2015 and 2017, he decided to step down and leave the Bianconeri in May 2019. After two years, he was hired back at the club to replace Andrea Pirlo in 2021 until he was sacked last week after winning the Coppa Italia against Atalanta, his only trophy during the second stint at the club. Let's break down why his second stint was not a success. 

Everything ends badly

Starting from the end, Juventus decided to sack Allegri despite the team winning the Coppa Italia on May 15 against Atalanta due to the reaction of the manager after the Game. Allegri was spotted during the Coppa Italia celebrations having a verbal altercation with Juventus sport director Cristiano Giuntoli, despite denying the allegations during the post-Game interview to Mediaset. According to Italian agency LaPresse, Allegri also reportedly lashed out at a federal prosecutor and kicked out, irreparably damaging lights on a set. Juventus then inquired about reimbursement for the damages, according to the same agency, and he also had a verbal fight with the director of the Italian newspaper TuttoSport. 

The club, and Giuntoli in particular, seemed already decided to move on and replace Allegri months ago and this certainly must have played a part in his reaction after the Atalanta Game. However, his relationship with the sport director of the club hadn't been good since last summer, when Giuntoli was appointed to start a new cycle at Juventus. Reports describe their relationship as difficult since the beginning, and from that perspective, Allegri's departure is just the normal consequence of what probably should have happened last summer. 

Looking at Allegri's Juventus time in its entirety

However, Allegri's era at the club is not just about this season, but started in 2014 when former club's president Andrea Agnelli decided to appoint the Italian manager to replace Antonio Conte, after he decided to leave the Vecchia Signora on the first day of the 2014-15 pre-season over some disagreements with the transfer strategy. The fans didn't welcome Allegri with open arms, and the coach faced strong skepticism at his arrival. Step by step, Allegri convinced everybody that he was the right man in the right place and won five Serie A titles in a row, and also played two Champions League finals, the first one in his first season against FC Barcelona in Berlin and the second one against Real Madrid in Cardiff. 

Together with former CEO Beppe Marotta (now at Inter) and sport director Fabio Paratici, Allegri created a successful team that wanted to win everything, and in summer 2018 they also signed the most popular soccer player in the world to take another step, bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to Turin. However, that signing led Marotta to leave his role months later and put more pressure on Allegri. The results didn't improve, and despite winning his fifth Scudetto in a row, Allegri decided to leave Juventus in May 2019. 

His first farewell at the club was emotional and very different from the one that took place five years later. Juventus decided to appoint former Napoli and Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri to try something different, and despite winning the 2019-20 title, the club's ownership wanted another change and appointed former Juventus legend Andrea Pirlo, who won one Coppa Italia and one Supercoppa Italiana. Antonio Conte's Inter ended Juventus' decade-long dominance of winning Serie A, and the disappointing European campaigns convinced Andrea Agnelli to call Allegri back again in the summer 2021. 

To convince Allegri again, Agnelli gave him much more power than before, considering that Paratici had left the club to join Tottenham Hotspur and the Italian manager signed a five-year deal until 2025, worth around €7 million net per season. However, since the beginning his second stint at Juventus things seemed much different than before. 

Over the years, Allegri had some arguments with journalists and soccer analysts about his way of coaching. In particular, in 2019 he had a verbal argument live on Sky Italy with former defender and TV analyst Lele Adani about his coaching performances. While Allegri insisted over the years that it's more important to win rather than playing good football, others like Adani disagree with this point of view and also underlined that some players didn't improve with him at the club.

In 2019 he explained his mentality with a famous quote during a press conference after losing away to SPAL, a few days before winning his last Scudetto title at Juventus. When he had to explain Juventus' approach to games he referred to the "cortomuso" idea of winning by a nose, as it happens in horse races, one of his biggest passions. Others journalists and analysts started to debate about the matter, and even now this is an ongoing topic in the Italian media environment. This whole thing actually created even more issues for Allegri, who brought the focus on that approach himself, increasing the pressure around him week after week, especially when he didn't win as before. 

When Allegri made his comeback at Juventus in 2021, he centralized the power at the club in himself as Agnelli gave him decision making power he didn't have before, to fill the void left by the departure of Paratici. After that, Cristiano Ronaldo left Juventus in the same summer to join Manchester United again, only a few days before the end of the transfer window and the club wasn't able to replace him properly until the winter transfer window, when they signed Dusan Vlahovic from Fiorentina. Also thanks to the Vlahovic signing, Juventus improved in the second part of the season and ended up fourth, but were eliminated in the Champions League's round of 16 against Villarreal. The Bianconeri thought that the second season of Allegri back at the club was a step in the right direction and could see the team racing to win again. 

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Bigger issues sink Juventus

However, it all changed at the end of November 2022, when the whole club's board resigned after Juventus came under scrutiny by prosecutors for false accounting and market manipulation, including chairman Agnelli. After a long trial with multiple charges ending up with points deducted, overturned, and then deducted again during the 2022-23 season, Juventus faced a 10-point deduction in the standings for the capital gains scandal, but also avoided further deductions after reaching an agreement with the Italian sports justice bodies in which the Italian club had to pay a fine of €718,000 for the salary maneuvers case, but also then declined to appeal the 10-point deduction they had been assessed. Later, in the summer of 2023, UEFA banned Juventus from competing in the European competitions in the 2023-24 season, after the Bianconeri qualified to play in the UEFA Conference League after ending up seventh in the table. Without the points deduction, Juventus would have qualified to play Champions League soccer last season, ending up fourth with 72 points last year. 

The 2023-24 season started, but new scandals emerged and again affected the club. Italian anti-doping prosecutors confirmed that they are seeking the maximum ban of four years against Juventus and France midfielder Paul Pogba after he tested positive for heightened levels of testosterone after a game against Udinese in August 2023. Since returning to Juve as a free agent in the summer 2022, Pogba has only played in eight Serie A games across the last two seasons on top of a police investigation into alleged extortion attempts against him involving older brother Mathias. On top of Pogba's scandal, Juventus had to deal with the one of Nicolò Fagioli, who was suspended until May 2024 after the Italian midfielder admitted he personally placed bets on illegal platforms on soccer games. The 22-year-old reached an agreement with the Italian FA Prosecutor for a 12-month suspension, with five months being commuted to "alternative prescriptions."

The last season of Allegri at Juventus started well on the pitch, as the Bianconeri tried to contend for Serie A title with Inter until January at least, but then the performances collapsed in the second part of the year, with Juventus only winning one of the last ten Serie A games under Allegri. The Coppa Italia win gave the Italian manager the chance to say goodbye to his club with a trophy, something he probably deserved considering all the issues that happened in the last two years in particular. 

Juventus will now start a new cycle with a new manager as sport director Giuntoli probably wanted last summer as well, but the Allegri era won't be forgotten by the majority of the Juventus fans. The second stint of the Italian manager wasn't a success, and while it wasn't all his fault, but centralizing power in himself at the club as he did was the biggest mistake he made since he came back in 2021, he took tg. Will he remember it for his next step as manager?