Antonio Conte resigns as Juventus manager

Antonio Conte loves Juventus as much as anybody around. You could see it every time he celebrated a goal as a player. You could see it every time he celebrated a goal as a manager. Antonio Conte was the walking definition of what Juventini love about the club — grinta, passion, et al.

Now, all of the sudden, he's no longer coaching Juventus.

No, really. This just happened.

Antonio Conte leaves Juventus by mutual consent. http://t.co/bjpdJAfgjR

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) July 15, 2014

You don't need to speak Italian to understand what was said. You see it in his face.

Conte was the No. 1 reason by far that Juventus were back to the top of Serie A the past three seasons. Three years, three titles. Juve were in the dark ages before Conte arrived. After he took over as manager, it was like everything was fixed and Juve were back to being Juve again.

Antonio Conte: Lost only 7 of his 114 Serie A matches as Juventus head coach

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) July 15, 2014

But with that, there was always the rumors that he didn't have the same kind of vision as the club's directors — mainly Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici. Juve bringing Conte back despite him still having a year left on his current contract was looked at as a huge victory because of all the speculation surrounding his future. And despite that, tere were rumors that he would join the Italian national team in the result of Cesare Prandelli stepping down, something Conte didn't really address.

Now Il Mister is gone. At the worst possible time for it to happen.