TMW
In his long chat with TMW, Federico Mattiello – former defender of Juventus, Atalanta and Bologna among others – he also spoke about the current situation of Italian football, in particular of the clubs he has experienced and the main faces of our championship with whom he has had to deal in his career: “I’m not following the events of our championship very much, but from what I’ve been able to see it seems like an excellent Juventus, born with new stimuli. It can certainly have an excellent championship”.
Do you have any particular memories? Maybe also related to Allegri.
“I don’t have any big anecdotes, I was young, I only thought about raising alarms and having fun. But the memories are beautiful, it was a Juventus that was on the move, full of champions. Allegri was a perfect figure for that Juventus, because he was a great manager and knew how to keep a lot of cocks in the henhouse at bay. And he succeeded perfectly, they were years in which Juventus dominated far and wide in Italy, even reaching two European finals. It was a beautiful period for the club and the coach”.
But his second cycle at Juventus was different.
“He arrived at a Juventus that was totally different from his first term. And this was the key to the fact that things didn’t go according to plan. It was a different Juventus, which focused more on young players, without the economic availability that it had previously. As a coach, Allegri was a better fit for the Juventus of his first cycle than the second, where he had to work with young players who have a different mindset. It’s not like managing Buffons, Chiellinis, Tevezes… the difference was that he found himself in a different Juventus.”
He played in black and white with Morata, chosen by Milan as a centre forward.
“When he arrived at Juventus he was young, a bit like me even though he is three years older. We were two youngsters, he was immature as a player but you could see his qualities. On a human level he is a very good guy and I am happy he won a European Championship with the national team. He needs no introduction for what he has done in recent years and especially recently. He started to score more, he was European Champion as captain: for the price that was paid, Milan got a bargain, especially for the figures that are circulating now for strikers. He can certainly do well”.