Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri had to be given a police escort out of the stadium following Sunday’s embarrassing 1-0 defeat at Monza in Serie A.
Allegri was serving a touchline ban following his red card from last weekend’s draw against Salernitana but was in attendance in the stands for Sunday’s loss. The match was over seen by his assistant boss Marco Landucci, who said after the defeat that the players had to “shut up, listen and work”.
Juve have fallen into an early-season crisis; despite a 3-0 opening day win at home to Sassuolo, they have won just one of their following six league outings and have slipped to eighth in the Serie A standings. Furthermore, they have lost each of their two opening Champions League group stage games – against Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica – for the first time ever.
All that has ramped up the pressure on under-fire boss Allegri, who oversaw an overwhelming campaign back in the Bianconeri hotseat last time out. The defeat at Monza was particularly damning and has ramped up the pressure on the coach’s future.
Monza had only just been promoted back into Serie A this season and had picked up just one point from their opening seven league matches but were fully deserving victors against a shambolic Juve – whose disciplinary issues continued as Angel di Maria was dismissed in the first half for violent conduct.
That defeat has left Juve in a distant eighth in the Serie A standings and, combined with their wretched start in Europe, that has ramped up the pressure on Allegri. Having won five league titles in a row in his first spell in the dugout, his return to the club last campaign was less successful as the club finished trophyless and underwhelmed domestically and in Europe.
Video footage released by Italian media has now shown how Allegri required a police escort back to his car following the defeat at Monza due to heightened tensions at the club, with the players having to apologise to travelling fans after the loss.
Italian police surrounded the boss as he made his way out of the stadium having watched the game from the stands.
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Juve finished a whopping 16 points off last year’s title winners Milan while they also were eliminated from the Champions League Round of 16 by Villarreal.
That was despite signing striker Dusan Vlahovic in January, with this summer seeing yet more arrivals including Di Maria and Paul Pogba – who has yet to play this season due to injury – as free agents.
The Bianconeri return to action after the international break with a home game against Bologna on 2 October but it remains unclear if Allegri will still be in the dugout for that clash as fans of the club increasingly call for a change in approach.
