Allegri disappointed, Chiellini announces Juventus exit

Derby d’Italia clashes are never not contentious, and the latest episode of Italy’s biggest game proved to be the same. In fact, once again it took a referee’s (mis)intervention to decide it, and once again the result went against Juventus.

There was even a mass melee after which a livid Massimiliano Allegri was sent off, though he had been on the knife’s edge of rage pretty much from the beginning of the game.

“Someone from Inter walked past and kicked me. I got angry and quite rightly the referee sent me off.

“Finding out what happened changes nothing. We just have to congratulate Inter for winning. We do not win a single trophy this season, we have to retain that anger for next season, when we must get back to winning.

“It was a good performance, but we fell away towards the end, there were players who were not fully fit and did all they could. It’s disappointing, but we can only thank them for their efforts.”

“We learn from these experiences. It’s a pity, because we didn’t get the win against Inter in Serie A and did not take our revenge this evening either. Incidents can go against you some days, in favour the others.”

Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images

Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini, who had earlier indicated that he would wait until after this game to announce his future plans, said that he would leave the Bianconeri at the end of this season.

“We had these 10 magnificent years, it’s up to the lads to continue now. I did everything I could, I hope that I left something. On Monday I will say goodbye to my Juventus Stadium, then if I’ve still got something in the tank might have a run-out in Florence.

“It is my choice 100 per cent, I am happy to leave at such a high level, because for many years I’ve said I didn’t want to finish struggling and not being able to play at my level.

“I gave it my all, soon I will be the biggest Juventus fan from the outside. After so many years within this club, you cannot shake it off.”

The veteran defender was asked what he though went wrong for Juve this season, the first in over a decade that will end without a trophy.

“We know that something didn’t work, there was a process of improvement, but we saw in the head-to-heads that we were not as strong as the others. With all due respect, Milan are not as strong a squad as Inter, yet they are ahead right now. That means it takes more than just quality and this team is missing something in terms of determination, hunger that characterised Juve for all these years and it needs to be found as soon as possible.

“There are eras and I went through it, I was there with two seasons of seventh-place finishes, the previous era had finished and the new one needed to emerge. We have to be aware of that.

“I think the coach is the best person to transfer that DNA to the squad in future and this team cannot afford to end another season without trophies.”