18 May 2019
The two sat down at Allianz Stadium, where they discussed the future and Allegri’s closing chapter at Juventus.
The message was clear. Allegri’s five-year spell at Juventus may be coming to a close, but the relationship between coach, club and president will forever be binding, and President Andrea Agnelli made this evident with his opening line in the press conference: “We are here to celebrate Massimiliano Allegri.”
Celebrate he did, as he touched on the impact the Tuscan tactician had on the club, and the success of the team, which saw the President hand Allegri a jersey with the words “History Alone” and the No.5 on the back.
CELEBRATING ALLEGRI
“We are here to celebrate Massimiliano Allegri. Since his arrival, we talked about the five successful years of the 30’s. He did it on his own. Already in May 2013, I felt that Allegri would be the future coach of Juventus. We had to wait 14 months, when, between the rejections, he accepted the task. To takeover Juventus on July 16 and make them win, these are the attributes that are needed. We have passed these five years with esteem, affection, sharing, defeats, but above all, many victories. I have a wonderful personal and sporting memories that bind me to him. The great comeback of the 2015/16 season, and the duel with Napoli. Above all, in Massimiliano Allegri I found a friend. This has been a decision of a lot of focus and emotions but when we deal with these decisions, we need to make sure it is the best decision for Juventus. At the end of several reflections and analysis, we identified that this was the best decision to make…However, it was also the most difficult I had to make during my time at Juventus.”
FAITH IN THE FUTURE
“We have many projects, sporting and others. On the future programmes, which will always have to see the avant-garde Juventus, I have maximum confidence in Pavel Nedved, Fabio Paratici, Marco Re and Giorgio Ricci. When I thought I was going forward with Allegri, I was absolute sincere. The necessary reflections were then taken to make the right decisions. This was the right time to close this extraordinary cycle. We must be able to make the right decision and make them in the right moment. Only the future will tell us if these decisions are the right ones. I do want to hear strong opinions and once those opinions have been made to me, I have a decision to make.”
After the President’s beautiful words, it was then time for Allegri – who entered the press conference room to a round of applause from his players – to address the media.
LEAVING JUVE
“I would like to thank all the players for what they have given me. We now have a winning team that has great potential next year to compete in Italy and in the Champions League. We evaluated the future of Juventus and obviously the club decided to take a direction next year without me but that doesn’t change anything. We have grown together and it is the right moment to leave the club in the best possible way."
TOMORROW’S CELEBRATIONS
“Tomorrow, we have to celebrate two moments: One is the Scudetto and one is the departure of Andrea Barzagli. We have to celebrate because these last five years have been absolutely wonderful."
ON HIS TEAM’S PERFORMANCES
“Me as a coach, I’ve always had to analyse the performance and not the result. Nonetheless, of course, when we play football matches, it is not always possible to play well. Playing well for 30+ matches is impossible. We always have this winning mentality; it is a typical feature of Juventus. When we lose, it is something that I do not accept... At the end of the day, what really matters is the result. We need to win."
