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AC Milan and Vincenzo Montella Show the Bravery Juventus Need
- Updated: October 23, 2016
Massimiliano Allegri must hate the sight of San Siro. While the old stadium is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious venues in world football, it has provided the Juventus coach with some painful memories.
Many of those stem from his ill-fated tenure with AC Milan—he was fired despite winning the club a Serie A title in his debut season after that perfect start slowly became a nightmare. Through years of mismanagement, the Rossoneri were forced to dismantle the team, leaving Allegri with very little to work with.
That could never be said of Juventus, with the Turin giants undoubtedly a well-run organisation who have invested wisely in recent seasons and have clearly provided their coach with a talent-laden squad.
The San Siro has been unkind to Juventus this season. 💀 pic.twitter.com/o9Zq6cShKW
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) October 22, 2016
Yet while the Bianconeri have won seven of their first nine league games in 2016/17, their two trips to San Siro have ended in disaster. Back in mid-September, they took a lead against Inter Milan only to see Mauro Icardi inspire the home side to a 2-1 victory with a rapid-fire goal and an assist to match-winner Ivan Perisic.
That result sounded alarm bells for the Old Lady, with captain Gigi Buffon expressing the hope that it would act as something of a wake-up call when he spoke to Sky Italia (h/t ESPN FC):
A team like ours cannot and must not lose a game like this in 25 minutes.
It’s fair enough that we can concede an equaliser, but not lose because you’ve got to close a game like this out. But I think that it’s normal to have highs and lows at the start of the season and I believe in the end that this defeat will do us good.
Comfortable victories over Cagliari, Dinamo Zagreb (both 4-0) and Empoli (3-0) followed, and it seemed as if the goalkeeper’s analysis was correct. Hard-fought and narrow triumphs over Udinese (2-1) and Olympique Lyonnais (1-0) saw them start October taking results despite not performing well, but then another trip to San Siro arrived.
Juventus have dominated AC Milan in recent years, winning home and away against the Rossoneri in the past two seasons while also claiming a 1-0 victory in May’s Coppa Italia final between the two storied rivals.
Yet there is something special happening in the red-and-black half of San Siro this term. The lack of funding that destroyed Allegri’s title-winning Milan side continued, until the club was forced to finally turn to its homegrown talent.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has shone at one end, while Carlos Bacca continues to provide a devastating threat at the other, and new boss Vincenzo Montella has somehow fashioned the rest of his low-cost squad into a …
