Spurs stand between Allegri & Champions League grail
Turin ( Italy), Feb. 12: Massimiliano Allegri may be breaking records in Italy but the Juventus coach’s quest for the elusive Champions League grail continues on Tuesday against English side Tottenham Hotspur.
The 50- year- old marked his 200th game in the Juventus dugout with a 2- 0 win in Florence on Friday, capping a record breaking three- and- a- half years in Turin.
A surprise replacement for Antonio Conte in July 2014, the former AC Milan boss has won seven consecutive trophies with the Turin giants including the last three Serie A titles.
Italy’s national side are in disarray after the fourtime winners’ humiliating World Cup exit, but Juventus are in fine form under Allegri.
So much so that his name has not only been among those touted as the future Italy boss but as a potential manager of English giants Chelsea and Arsenal.
The six- time defending champions are currently engaged in a gripping battle at the top of the Serie A table with Napoli for the Scudetto.
Juventus have won 11 matches in a row in all competitions, conceding just one goal in 16 games — an all- time club record.
But two Champions League final defeats in the past three editions have dented Allegri’s standing.
A 3- 1 loss to Barcelona in 2015 was followed by another crushing 4- 1 defeat to Real Madrid last year after which Allegri revealed he almost quit.
“I wondered if I should write the final chapter to my story at Juventus,” said Allegri at the time, saying that his “love of teaching” had encouraged him to continue.
“It is truly the joy of my life. I like making players better and smarter. I know I still have a lot to prove. And I know I still have a lot to teach.”
Allegri’s 200 games in charge may be dwarfed by Giovanni Trapattoni’s record 596 but his percentage of wins are in a class of their own — 142 in total — a success rate of more than 70 per cent.
MAN CITY FACE BASEL The club record £ 57 million capture of French centre- back Aymeric Laporte took Manchester City’s spending on defence in the past year beyond the budgets of many nations.
But the Frenchman could be the final piece of a more than £ 200 million defensive overhaul to provide the foundations in City’s quest for a historic quadruple.
Pep Guardiola’s men kick off a run of four matches in four different competitions on Tuesday with a return to Champions League action at Basel in the first leg of their last 16 tie.
An FA Cup 5th round tie at Wigan follows before Arsenal await in the League Cup final and then another meeting with the Gunners in the Premier League — where City boast a 16- point lead at the top of the table.
However, it is for the Champions League stage that Guardiola was lured by City’s Abu- Dhabi owners and given enormous resources with which to mould an all- conquering squad.
“I have always dreamed of big things and one of them being the Champions League,” said Laporte on his arrival from Athletic Bilbao on last month’s transfer deadline day. “That is the number one objective.” — AFP