Max Allegri is back. The former Juventus coach, a guest at Sky Calcio Club, touched on many topics in the long chat.
ON THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE - "Future? Roma or Napoli? I still don't know anything. When I train I see few games, I get bored. I started looking at them again to identify with the coaches. The last game I saw live was Tottenham- Bayern 1-6. I did some reflections watching some matches. Right now Italian football has to roll up its sleeves."
ON THE ITALIANS ELIMINATED IN EUROPE - "What happened in Europe must make us reflect, we need balance. We need to focus on the player and work on it. Tactics are needed, but we put them in Europe when we face players who pass at 100 km / h. We need to ask ourselves some questions, returning to work on the youth sectors of individual technique/tactics. The players have become a tool to show that the coaches are good. Porto and Borussia I don't know if they have better players than Juventus and Inter. In 2021 we have to go back to the "ABC of football: knowing how to pass the ball, building from behind when you can do it. I'm sorry that Juventus went out, they were unlucky. In the two games, they also deserved to pass."
ON THE DEFEAT OF TODAY'S JUVENTUS - "I'm sorry that Juventus lost, but we must give credit to Benevento. Benevento played an important game and came from a match against Fiorentina where they were not in the ideal condition. Pippo was very good to prepare for the game."
ON THE SEPARATION WITH JUVENTUS - "There was a diversity of views. Neither I nor they realized that we were divided. The choice was made by the president, I remained on excellent terms with him. They were five wonderful years, one-of-a-kind. Wonderful things happened, there was a lot of positivity and important players. In the last year, we collected 66 points in the first 32 games, winning Serie A. Coming out of the Champions League everything went downhill. That season was the logical end of a relationship. There have been wonderful years, the last one against Ajax did not go well. I am very attached to Juventus. Going back to Juve? Now it is impossible to say, then there is Andrea who in my opinion is doing well. "
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF PLAYERS - "I had players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic, Nesta, Pirlo, Buffon ... The important thing is the respect you must have for them and that they must have for you. But surely you have "brands" in front of you. Social are raging, I'm not very social but I realize that this too has changed, technology has moved on. For them, you have to be a point of reference and the management, regardless of technique and tactics, of human resources makes the difference."
ON THE RETURN - "Three years ago when the president of Real Madrid called me I told him I would stay at Juventus. Recently they called me. I want to return in June because I have fun and I have great passion. Abstinence? No, but I miss enjoying the deeds of my players."
JUVENTUS AND THE CHAMPIONS - "What is missing to return to the Champions League final? I don't know. Juve worked well and made a good team. For now, they are in the final of the Coppa Italia, they are fighting to get into the top four places and they are in the running for the Supercoppa. The Champions is a 1X2, then Covid-19 has upset some balances. Chiesa is doing excellent things, Morata started well, then he had the Covid. The midfield has been totally changed. There is quality, in the generational change, the characteristics of the players change. They need to rebuild a soul, They need calm because the players are not like machines. The players must complete each other. All the teams have passed from good times to less good times. Juventus has the chance to win the Coppa Italia, entering Europe and with the victory of the Supercoppa, it would remain a positive year. Perhaps he could have been closer to Inter."
ON ITALIAN FOOTBALL - "If in the Italian league the best are those with more experience like Ibra, Ronaldo, and Chiellini, we need to make some reasoning and reflections. In addition to foreigners, I would also talk about Italians. Mancini is doing a great job with the national team, but he has a great burden on him because now everyone expects him to win the European Cup. We will be excited if the national team will make a great European in June, on the contrary for some it would be a profound crisis. We need to think in another way to rebuild something important."
ABOUT INTER AND ERIKSEN - "The squad of Juventus is excellent. Inter, especially after leaving the Champions League, has focused on the growth of players like Barella. It is a team that can play for a semi-final or a quarter of the Champions League. More consolidated than Juventus who has started a generational change. Inter has already been doing a great job with Conte since last year and I think there is the potential to make a great Champions next year. Eriksen? In the first training session in Pescara Galeone told me that I had to play behind and not as an attacking midfielder. When Dybala came to Juventus I told him: 'Paulo, you at Juve cannot be a center forward because in Palermo you played 50 meters from the goal.' He is an extraordinary player, Juventus missed him a lot because he is a player who scores. Conte was good at waiting for Eriksen. In England, there is more space and less tactic, in Italy if you lower him by ten meters he puts the ball where he wants."
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JUVENTUS AND MILAN - "I coached Juventus and Milan. They are two opposing clubs, like the story of the two families. Berlusconi was a showman, while at Juve there is the story of FIAT, of the most important family in Italy who had to excel with the imprint of work and sacrifice. A different DNA, I do not say better or worse. I arrived at Milan in 2010 and won the Scudetto seven years after the last time. Milan is different from Turin. Even abroad, Real and Barcelona are opposites. Knowing the DNA of the club and knowing where you are going to coach is fundamental."
RONALDO'S MANAGEMENT - "It's different with or without him. Few attacks the goal like he does. Cristiano's strength is a mechanized head to win. He has won five Ballon D'or, many Champions League, he gives himself stimuli every day. He is a player who goes to look for the goal, whoever moves alongside him must occupy the space he leaves."
ON THE NATIONAL - "Mancini is doing an extraordinary job. The national team has grown in self-esteem, you have to give the players certainties. Roberto, with his way of doing things, has transmitted serenity. In the Club Italian there is a unity of purpose, they work for a common goal, making a great European Cup. The young players have grown up and Mancini is doing a great job."
CRISTIANO RONALDO OR MESSI? "One is the strongest, one is the greatest."
THREE DEFENSE OR FOUR DEFENSE? "Better four. Galliani told me that there has never been a team in Europe that has won by playing three."
INIESTA OR PIRLO? "Two different players, they could also play together. I can say Pirlo because I coached him."
SUAREZ OR MORATA? "For career Suarez, even if Alvaro has grown a lot. He is a player for a one-off match, he decides them. The first time we went to the final because he scored two goals against Real Madrid and one against Barcelona. Morata is deadly in the dry matches."
LUKAKU-LAUTARO THE BEST COUPLE IN SERIES A? "Yes, the facts prove it. Conte was good at making them play together because, from the outside, they have similar characteristics."
ON BENTANCUR - "He can't play in front of the defense. He can play at most one game. Rodrigo has played many times with me in front of the defense, but then he was playing ten more as a mezzala. In front of the defense, he has a playing time of one-three, but he's an important player."
PREMIER OR LIGA? "Spain and England are fascinating, if I stay in Italy I'm happy anyway."
SAN SIRO AND THE ALLIANZ STADIUM - "San Siro is very heavy. Even in the choice of players, players with personalities, who know how to win games, were needed."
