"Players have become instruments" - Allegri

Since he was sacked almost two years ago, this was one of his first real interviews as a guest on Sky Sport Italia this. When he was fired, he’d achieved five consecutive Serie A titles and made it to the Final of the Champions League twice.

Maurizio Sarri managed to take the Scudetto, but

is failing at domestic level as well as in Europe, facing a shock 1-0 home loss to Benevento this afternoon.

“I haven’t spoken for two years, I hope not to talk too much rubbish!”

this was the first comment of Allegri, who has been linked to some top teams, like Napoli, Roma, Manchester United, Tottenham and PSG.

“I don’t get to watch many games when I’m working, but after a year of not watching them, I have started to get back into it.”

After the early exit of all the Italian teams from the Champions League in the Round of 16, above all Juventus to FC Porto, there was a debate which brought back the old argument over Allegri’s defensive approach compared to the search for more beautiful football.

“I think in Italian football now, having heard all the comments about European elimination, we need to reflect. People used to see me as some sort of antidote to those who love beautiful football, but there needs to be a balance in all things. Not all of it is to be thrown in the bin.

“What I think is we need to put players back in the centre of the game. A coach organises a team, but then we complain when we face teams in Europe who pass the ball at 100 km/h. We need to ask ourselves questions here.

“It saddens me, but in Italy it’s almost as if players have become an instrument to prove the coach is good.

“Juventus were unlucky against Porto over the two legs and they perhaps deserved to go through, but this is more of an overall discussion. It’s a pleasure to see players who are technically gifted and we should encourage that in our youth academies.

“Arrigo Sacchi and I disagree on a lot of things. We agree it’s a team sport, but in a team sport you need 10 players who are good at passing the ball to each other quickly, otherwise you run into trouble.”

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