Top Facts About Massimiliano Allegri, The Tactical Mastermind

Italian managers have a worldwide reputation for being good tacticians. The latest wave of Italian managers is very successful, just like their idols Arrigo Sacchi, Marcello Lippi, Giovanni Trapattoni, and Fabio Capello. Conte has won Serie A with

and Inter and Premier League as

coach. Maurizio Sarri won the Europa League with Chelsea and the Serie A with Juventus.

There are other names among the successful young managers of The Calcio, but Massimiliano Allegri is the icing on the cake. He has won Serie A titles with both

and Juventus. In Juventus, he reached the Champions League final twice, but

and

didn't let his side win the prestigious trophy. Allegri is known for its versatility in using different tactics.

The followings are some lesser-known facts about Massimiliano Allegri:

Despite being an average football player, Allegri is one of the most prominent managers in the world. During his absence after being dismissed from Juve, he has received many offers from big European clubs.

Massimiliano Allegri Early Life

The first fact about Massimiliano Allegri is that he was born on August 11, 1967. Allegri's father, Augusto Allegri, worked in Livorno port and his mother, Carla Allegri, was a nurse.

Massimiliano Allegri's childhood

passed in Coteto neighborhood in the city of Livorno. He has a younger sister named Michela Allegri.

His grandfather used to take him to the racecourse to watch horse racing since he was five years old. Horse racing became his hobby. He was so passionate about horses that he started to place bets and even got his own horse. Football was about to take his heart as he grew up to his teenage years.

In 1984, Allegri joined his first team in the nearby city, Pisa. Cuoiopelli is Allegri's first team. A couple of years before Allegri, Luciano Spalletti, another famous coach, also started his career in Cuoiopelli. Soon, Allegri returned to his home city to play for its main team.

was in the third tier of Italian football, called Serie C. It was the dawn of Allegri's professional football career.

Massimiliano Allegri Personal Life

One of the

facts about Massimiliano Allegri

is that he has been known to be cold and a Casanova. Some say Allegri has commitment issues, which can be seen in his initial managerial career years, and also his love life. He dated a college student named Erika. They were together for four years and in 1992 they decided to become engaged, but two days before the scheduled engagement ceremony, Allegri called it off. Allegri was 25 years old then and was in a newly promoted team in Serie A.

In 1994, Massimiliano married Gloria. Gloria Allegri is an Instagram Model and a social media influencer. After a year from their marriage, Allegri’s first child, Valentina, was born in 1995. Their marriage didn’t last long and the couple separated after four years in 1998. 

Allegri started dating again with Claudia Ughi and they were together for eight years until Claudia got pregnant and they separated before their son and Allegri’s second child, Giorgio, was born in 2012. There were some betrayal allegations of Allegri cheating Claudia with his next girlfriend, Gloria Patrizi. But he made it clear in an interview that he never cheated on Claudia. But During the early 2010s, he was spotted several times with his new flame, Gloria Patrizi, sparking rumors that he was cheating on Claudia. 

Gloria Patrizi was a former 2009 Playboy Playmate and was 24 years old at the time. Their relationship didn’t last long and Allegri, as of 2019, started dating actress Ambra Angiolini. They were spotted living together and ready for the wedding in 2019, but they postponed it for unknown reasons.  

Massimiliano Allegri Club Career

A fact about Allegri's professional career is that it blossom in Serie C for Livorno. He was a central midfielder back then. In three years of his first spell for Livorno, Allegri had 29 caps. In the 1988-89 season, he joined

in Serie A, where he made his debut in the top flight of Calcio. Then he returned to Livorno as a crucial player. Allegri spent a season in Pavia before his breakthrough move to

. At Pescara, he was a key player.

In his first season as Serie B runner up, they got the promotion to Serie A. Pescara didn't survive in Serie A and they relegated to the last team on the table. Despite Pescara's relegation, Allegri stayed in Serie A by joining

. Unlike Pescara, Cagliari had a great season. They finished in sixth place and qualified for the UEFA Cup. He made his continental debut in that competition against

in 1993. Cagliari reached the semi final by defeating Juventus in quarter finals. In semi finals they were defeated by the champion

. 

In 1995-96 Allegri left Cagliari and joined

in Serie B. Once again, he succeeded in the Serie A promotion task and returned to the top tier. His time in Perugia didn't last long and he moved to

. After two seasons with Padova, Allegri went to

. Max Allegri's journey in Serie A as a player ended after seven caps with Napoli.

He returned to Pescara, where he had his best and most appearances. In 115 caps for Pescara, he scored 22 goals. 12 of those goals were in 1992-93. That was the best season of Max Allegri. Before his retirement in 2003, he had a short spell in

and Aglianese.

Massimiliano Allegri Managerial Career

Aglianese was the last team Max Allegri played for and the first team he managed. As a player, he was a part of Aglianese in 2001-2002 when they got the historical promotion to Serie C. 2003-04 was the debut season for Max Allegri's managerial career. The next season, he went to

in 2004-05. His previous team, Aglianese relegated without him in that season. In SPAL, he used 4-4-2 formation for most of the season, but at the end he changed it to attacking 4-3-3.

After SPAL, he had relatively short spells in

. At first, he used the common 4-4-2 formation, but in the second spell he turned it to Italian old-school 3-5-2. Allegri used the flat variation of 3-5-2. This way, Allegri started to master his flexible tactical abilities. He had learned enough to impress football at this point.

Sassuolo

All Allegri needed was an ambitious team and that was

. They missed the promotion in the last season's play-off after they finished in second place behind Grosseto. They brought Allegri to fulfill the desired Serie B promotion. Allegri proved his tactically genius mind before, but in Sassuolo he also showed his maturity as a winner manager. He frantically used several sets of tactics and formations through the 2007-08 season.

In the beginning, he used the rotation of 4-3-2-1 and 4-3-3 Attacking variation. The 4-3-2-1 formation is also known as the "Christmas tree", is the same formation that Carlo Ancelotti set for Milan when they won the Champions League in 2007. It is less offensive than 4-3-3, but more balanced and fluid.

Allegri occasionally used 4-3-1-2, which is another variation of 4-3-3. In the time Allegri needed more defensive resistance, he used 5-3-2 and 5-4-1. But it wasn't the end of formation changes for Sassuolo. Allegri rare formations like 4-1-4-1 and 4-5-1 flat in a few matches. Despite the versatility of tactics, Sassuolo collected most of the points with the first two systems with four defenders.

Sassuolo won 19 games out of 34 league fixtures and became champions. It was the first silverware won by both Sassuolo and Allegri. They faced

in Supercoppa. The first leg ended with Salernitana's 1-0 victory, but in the second leg, Sassuolo won the match and title with an exciting 6-4 victory. Allegri took a big step for himself and Sassuolo. Sassuolo is currently one of the admired Serie A teams. The job was done so Allegri proceeded to the next level.

Cagliari

Allegri went to Cagliari this time as a player. Allegri replaced Marco Storari with Federico Marchetti as the goalkeeper. He used 4-3-1-2 as the default formation of Cagliari. Allegri and Cagliari had a poor start. They lost the first five games and were stuck at the bottom of the table. Their first point was collected in the 6th week against Milan. That match turned the page over for Cagliari.

In the next 10 matches, Cagliari gained six victories. In the 18th match, they managed to get one point in an away match against the leader, Inter Milan. After stopping Inter, they won four consecutive matches, including two precious away victories: 4-1 against

and 3-2 against Juventus.

The last time Cagliari defeated Juventus in Turin was in 1968 with the legendary Gigi Riva. Cagliari, under Allegri had become a challenge for every Italian team. In a week before the final, they defeated Inter and in the end they were the 9th team in the standings. Allegri stuck to his 4-3-1-2 formation, except for a few games that he used 4-3-2-1 or 4-4-2. But in the second season at Cagliari, he had the confidence to freely use different tactics.

Allegri's team was doing good and they were in the Europa League qualification zone. After the home victory against

ten weeks before the season finale, Cagliari faced a crisis. They didn't win any of the nine remaining games and declined from the 7th to the 16th. The only good part of the second half of the season was the sign-in of the future fan favorite,

.

AC Milan

In 2009-10, Milan had a revolution in the staff and squad. Their legendary captain was retired and their best player, Kaka, was sold to Real Madrid. Their coach, Carlo Ancelotti, left Milan, too, and became Chelsea's manager. Leonardo was Ancelotti's replacement. Despite the attractive style of play under Leonardo, Milan's objectives weren't achieved. Milan hired a less popular and more tactician coach.

Max Allegri was a surprise choice for many Milan fans. Allegri signed

and

from

but his biggest transfers were

from Barcelona and Robinho from

. Antonio Cassano and Mark van Bommel joined Allegri's side in January.

Allegri's setting for Milan was his favorite, 4-3-1-2. Zlatan and Robinho were the most frequent duo in the front line, while Pato and Cassano were alternative options. Ronaldinho played behind the strikers and in front of the famous trio, Gattuso, Pirlo, and Seedorf. Captain Ambrosini, Prince Boateng, and van Bommel were subs and alternatives of midfielders. In the heart of the defense, Nesta and Thiago Silva were standing and beside them were Zambrotta and Abate. Because of Cassano and Robinho's versatility, this formation could easily turn to 4-3-2-1 with Zlatan at the center forward.

Despite the excellent performances of Milan with Christmas tree formation, Allegri occasionally used 4-3-3 for attacking and 5-3-2 for ultra defense. All three main strikers, Zlatan, Pato, and Robinho, scored 14 goals each. Milan won its first Scudetto since 2003-04, a few weeks before the ending of the season. Allegri became the second youngest scudetto winning manager after Roberto Mancini of Inter. Allegri got the Serie A championship with 82 points. He also managed to win Inter in both legs that season. It was the best debut season for Allegri.

The next season, Milan was pretty much the same. There were a few changes in the squad. Andrea Pirlo's contract expired and he joined Juventus. Juventus hired a young manager and its former player, Antonio Conte. Allegri's side collected 80 points, but Antonio Conte's side crowned with a single loss. Pirlo was a key player for Juventus and Milan was criticized for letting him go on a free move to Juventus. Zlatan had a great season and was the league's top goalscorer with 28 goals.

2012–13 season was the beginning of a new era. Milan's squad was drained after the departure of Alessandro Nesta, Filippo Inzaghi, Gennaro Gattuso, Gianluca Zambrotta, Mark van Bommel, and Clarence Seedorf, Thiago Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Antonio Cassano. The economic situation made Allegri change his tactics in order to use young talents.

,

and

were the most notable talents in Allegri's squad. Balotelli was no match to fill Zlatan's absence. Allegri changed his default 4-3-1-2 to 4-3-3 attacking to have more balance in the front line. Milan's standing place was the same as the number of Allegri's seasons in Milan. He didn't see the end of the fourth season and was sacked in January.

Juventus

Antonio Conte after three back-to-back Scudetti left Juventus. Andrea Agnelli and Giuseppe Marotta decided to replace him with Max Allegri. At first it seemed an ambivalent choice, but Juventus passed the first two months of Serie A with one hundred percent victory. On the 13th matchday, Allegri's side beat the cross-city rival

. At this point, Juventus had 11 wins. Allegri at first used the same tactics that Conte used.

A flat variation of 3-5-2 was working, but anyway, in the 14th match against Parma, Allegri returned to his usual 4-3-1-2. It resulted in a 7-0 victory for Juventus. Juventus had become a shapeshifter that easily changes from Allegri style to Conte style and vice versa. Sometimes, Allegri changed the formation in the middle of the match. Juventus crushed the Italian opponents easily and won the domestic double in Allegri's first season.

One of the problems that Conte had in Juventus was the failure in European competitions. Allegri didn't have that issue and did really well in the Champions League. Juventus reached the Champions League final by beating

,

, and Real Madrid. Pundits across the world praised Allegri's tactical strategies. The final was against Barcelona, in which Allegri faced the classic Juve finals curse. Allegri made Juventus one of the top clubs in the World. Allegri repeated the domestic double in the next season with an additional Supercoppa Italiana trophy.

Allegri set a Christmas tree formation, using

as the center forward and

as the attacking midfielder or "Trequartista". He somehow managed to use Higuain and

at the same time by changing Mandzukic's role from center forward to the winger. Italian media called this formation the "Five Stars" formation because of using all five of Juve's biggest stars at the time — Gonzalo Higuain,

, Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, and

. In 2016–17, Juventus once again harvested Italian titles and reached the Champions League final.

In the semi finals Juve's opponent was Monaco. Monaco had one of the best squads of their history with

,

,

, Lemar, and Fabinho. Allegri used a unique strategy that blessed all the football experts. In the final, his side faced another Spanish giant, Real Madrid. Despite the amazing goal from Mandzukic lost the final again. One of the reasons for Juventus' failure in the final was an excellent performance by

.

For the next season, Juventus signed the Portuguese superstar for the upcoming season. Squad reinforcement didn't lead to the Champions League title and Juventus continued domestic reign.

In 2019, Juventus president Andrea Agnelli decided to change the club's philosophy and introducing a more offensive style. Allegri remained without a team despite many offers from the biggest clubs.

Some Quick Facts About Massimiliano Allegri

About Massimiliano Allegri’s age, it should be mentioned that he was born on August 11, 1967, in Livorno, Italy. So till now, he has 53 years of age.

Allegri is regarded as one of the best managers who was known for his fluidity and flexibility in formations. Milan earned their first Serie A title in the 2010-11 season with the management of Allegri after six seasons.

In Juventus, he won domestic double titles for four consecutive seasons. His win ratio in Juventus made them untouchable with 70.48%. He won the Panchina d’Oro award in Juventus three times. A fact about Massimiliano Allegri is that he was a manager in Italian clubs only and his average win ratio in all seven clubs is nearly 54%.

Another fact about Massimiliano Allegri is that in 2001, Allegri was banned from football for a year, along with six other footballers, because of allegations of match fixing. However, he stated that he wasn’t involved in any fixing. 

In a press briefing in 2012, Allegri stated that he plans to retire from managing because of the pressure and stress of it, at the age of 55. Since he left Juventus, he had offers from Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Paris Saint-Germain, but apparently, he had to turn them down because of family reasons. 

Massimiliano Allegri Social Media

About 

Massimiliano Allegri's social media

, it should be mentioned that he doesn’t seem to have an official page on Instagram or Twitter. 

Massimiliano Allegri Body Measurement

About 

Massimiliano Allegri's body measurements

, it should be mentioned that there is no information on his body measurements, but he is 1.83m tall.

Massimiliano Allegri Honors

• Panchina d'Oro Prima Divisione: 2007–08

• Panchina d'Oro: 2008–09, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18

• Serie A Coach of the Year: 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018

• Enzo Bearzot Award: 2015

• IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 2015 (third place), 2017 (second place)

• The Best FIFA Men's Coach: 2017 (third place)

• Gazzetta Sports Awards – Coach of the Year: 2018

• Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2018

Massimiliano Allegri Net Worth & Salary

Speaking about 

Massimiliano Allegri's net worth and salary

, it should be mentioned that he was transferred from Pescara to Cagliari Calcio in 1993 as a player with a fee of $2.75 million. Other than that, there is no information about his current net worth and salary. 

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