Late in the second half of their recent Champions League clash with Swiss side Young Boys, the atmosphere at Juventus Stadium was largely relaxed. The Bianconeri had, thanks to Paulo Dybala’s hat-trick of goals, comfortably put themselves in the driving seat and were cruising to a comprehensive victory over a totally overwhelmed opponent.
However, a fan sitting behind the home bench managed to pick out the one man who wasn’t completely calm, the supporter capturing a video of an angry Max Allegri as the Juve boss cursed at his assistant about a player who shot when he should’ve given the ball to a better placed team-mate. The incident came just after midfielder Federico Bernardeschi blasted an effort way over the bar, just moments after another attempt rolled meekly into the arms of the goalkeeper, much to the dismay of his 51-year-old coach.
“It’s a pass, we need to score goals,” screamed Allegri, his tirade punctuated with repeated f-bombs. “Now I am going to replace him, we are not at Fiorentina here.”
That last line drew an unhappy response from fans of Bernardeschi’s former club who are fierce rivals of Juventus, supporters of La Viola viewing the comments as a lack of respect for their beloved side.
However, it is obvious that Allegri – himself a Tuscan and fully aware of Fiorentina’s great history – was making a point that the standard expected at Juve is higher than almost anywhere else, and he would’ve undoubtedly said exactly the same thing had Bernardeschi previously played for Parma, Napoli, or Bologna.
Indeed, the only unexpected aspect of the whole outburst was that the coach made it so publicly, with the fact that the player in question wasn’t immediately hauled off via a substitution really no surprise at all. Simply put, Bernardeschi is the latest player to arrive in Turin and find himself under the tutelage of a coach who seems to instantly understand what makes each player tick, and the 24-year-old has certainly benefited from that carefully tailored approach.
“I have a wonderful relationship with the boss,” Bernardeschi explained to Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport the following morning. “He bent my ear a bit yesterday because I didn’t pass two balls in the second half, but I feel very comfortable with him. When he gets angry he makes himself heard and understood, even if the foreigners struggle with his Tuscan dialect a little bit… but fortunately he speaks English too!”
Just as each player is handled individually, Allegri also picks and chooses his tactical approach on a case-by-case basis, laying out exactly what he expects in a variety of formations which he can then cycle through even during the course of a single game. Deft substitutions and a slight alteration to the system have helped the Bianconeri to countless wins during his four-year tenure, resulting in the club winning both the Serie A title and the Coppa Italia in each campaign while also reaching two Champions League finals along the way.
This year, with the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo and a number of other expensive signings, Juve hope to go one better and end a 22-year wait for European football’s ultimate prize. If they are to do so however, it will probably be as a direct result of Allegri’s careful prompts from the touchline and his unique blend of skills.
That intelligent man-management and his wonderful tactical acumen have already been discussed, but recently a third attribute has been called to the fore and it appears that could well be key to those hopes of success over the next few months. At a time when off-field issues are beginning to besiege his team, Allegri has been a beacon of serenity, the calm at the eye of a raging storm that – under the guidance of almost anyone else – could already have seen Juventus knocked off course.
Director general and CEO Beppe Marotta dropped a bombshell just a few days before that clash with Young Boys, the club official admitting that he would be leaving with almost immediate effect. Clearly not his decision, it seems that Juve’s upper management had decided to move in another direction, dispensing with the services of a man who had been in charge of their transfer business for the past eight years and who had carefully built the squads that have won the last seven league titles.
Yet even that was merely the tip of the iceberg as a serious sexual assault accusation against Ronaldo came to light, the Portuguese megastar facing the prospect of a highly public trial in Clark County, Nevada. Juventus then made a complete misjudgment in their attempts to stand behind the club record signing, the wording of a brief Twitter statement completely tone-deaf in comparison with much stronger stances from Ronaldo’s sponsors Nike and EA Sports.
But through it all Allegri remained unflustered, the coach not distracted by matters that are totally beyond his control, ensuring his players stayed focused and maintained their unbeaten start to the 2018-19 campaign. Not that he is likely to take credit for it.
“Of course it’s important to recognize the coach, but without the players delivering on the pitch we would not accomplish anything,” he once told this writer. “That’s what I’m here for, that’s why I started doing this job and that’s what coaches are paid to do,” he continued, and he has done just that.
Max Allegri might not be the most important man at Juventus, but – unless you’re Federico Bernardeschi – he is almost certainly the calmest.
Adam Digby is an Italian football writer for FourFourTwo, The Independent, and elsewhere. Author of "Juventus: A History In Black & White." Follow Adam on Twitter.