The Thiago Motta era at Juventus ended up as one of the biggest disappointments in the recent history of Italy’s Serie A. When the Italian club appointed the former Bologna head coach, few could predicted how quickly things would turn sour between the two, as Motta was considered one of the best and most promising managers around Europe. Motta, after clinching a historic Champions League berth with Bologna, the first ever for the Italian team, decided to leave the team and joined Juventus after Bianconeri sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli wanted him to start a new cycle at the club. Juventus made many changes to the roster to accomodate Motta’s demands, and supported him even when he feuded with key players in the dressing room. However, week after week, disappointing results such as the UEFA Champions League elimination against PSV damaged his standing, and the club realized Motta had lost control of the team and decided to get of a decision that would have certainly been coming in the summer.
Thiago Motta was sacked on March 23, less than two months before the end of the 2024-25 season, and Juventus appointed former club player Igor Tudor as caretaker manager until the end of the current spell, which will also include Juventus’ participation in the FIFA Club World Cup that will take place this summer in the United States, where they will meet Manchester City, Wydad Casablanca and Al-Ain in the group stage. Let’s break the Juventus crisis down, and also look ahead to what can come next.
Juventus sack manager Thiago Motta and announce Igor Tudor as new coach until the end of the season
Francesco Porzio
Why was Thiago Motta sacked?
The tension between Thiago Motta, the team, Giuntoli and the fans increased drastically in recent weeks. The image of the Juventus fans leaving the Allianz Stadium 20 minutes before the end of the 4-0 home defeat against Atalanta will last for a long time, and basically marked the end of the line for the Italian coach at the club. Since then, it was clear that his sacking was only a matter of time, especially given that Juventus are still in the race for the Champions League spots, and are currently one point behind Bologna, sitting fourth in the Serie A table.
Motta was not able to bring the quality of football his Bologna side showed last season to Turin, and that’s why most of the fans were disappointed. They hoped to see something different different from the past, same as the players. The fracture between a part of the team and Motta was very visible. Former club captain Danilo was left out of the team after the start of the season and left Juventus in January as he parted ways with the club. Federico Chiesa was sold to Liverpool after training the summer apart from the rest of the squad, while goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny retired after Juventus signed Michele Di Gregorio, before making his comeback signing with FC Barcelona and coming out of his early retirement. All these players were also key figures in the dressing room, like Dusan Vlahovic, who struggled to find game time this season and only started on of the last nine Serie A games, after an alleged verbal fight with Thiago Motta after the Supercoppa Italiana defeat against AC Milan.
But, where did this situation come from? When Juventus appointed Motta in the summer, the whole environment seemed excited about the new head coach, as he brought a breath of fresh air after the second stint of Massimiliano Allegri, who left the club after winning the Coppa Italia but also after the decision of the club to sack him only a few hours after the final for his verbal fight on the pitch with the same sporting director, Giuntoli. Despite some ups and downs, Allegri was the face of that team, and the whole roster always showed their respect and support to the manager. Even if in his second stint at the club from 2021 to 2024 Allegri only won that Coppa Italia, the Italian manager was the face of Juventus when the team had to go through the capital gains scandal which forced the whole former board to step down, including the club’s chairman Andrea Agnelli, the same president who wanted Allegri back at the club after his first stint from 2014 to 2019.
If things between Allegri and Giuntoli deteriorated, fans and a big part of the roster felt a bit lost without their manager. But it was Giuntoli who had to make that call after he was appointed in the summer 2023 after leaving Serie A winners Napoli to rebuild the team after the scandal. He was the one to choose Motta, but as La Gazzetta dello Sport reported, he said to the same manager he felt “ashamed” he made that decision, showing once again the confusion inside the club. From the outside, the decision to fire the second manager in less than 12 months seems much more a way to save his job. Giuntoli knows his job is also at risk and he decided to make the ultimate risky decision to appoint Tudor with the hope to qualify for the next Champions League.
What’s next for Juventus?
Juventus can’t make other mistakes and Giuntoli is aware of it, since he’s the next in line to risk his job. The Bianconeri, among other big clubs, are living a paradox as they wanted to hire a manager for the way he coaches, for how he can improve the level of the players and the for quality of the football showed on the pitch. However, Italian manager Maurizio Sarri was the only one with such reputation to win over the past decade, but at the same time he was forced to change his style to win the 2019-2020 Serie A title, as he admitted. Juventus sacked all the other managers after only one season in the last five years, excluding Allegri. What happened to Motta, it also happened to Sarri and Andrea Pirlo before him.
Former Lazio head coach and Juventus defender Igor Tudor will now take charge of the remaining part of the season, with an option to extend until 2026 in case of Champions League qualification, but in the case he does not convince the Bianconeri, they’ll have to be ready to make another big call in the summer after the FIFA Club World Cup. Who’s going to be the next Juventus head coach? Early reports suggest Antonio Conte, Roberto Mancini and Stefano Pioli are the main candidates for the job, but there is a season to save before then. Giuntoli is aware of it, but he might not even be in charge of such decision if things will collapse in the coming weeks.
Read the full article here
