The best manager of the month of January in Serie A now wants to aim for the biggest prize.
Simone Inzaghi was in fact chosen as coach of the month by the League of A, but he has a decidedly more relevant trophy on the horizon: the cup for the Scudetto.
And after overtaking Juventus in the standings, on Sunday in the big match against the Bianconeri the Inter coach wants to launch their first escape from the Scudetto.
Best attack and best defense in Serie A, with the Italian Super Cup already on the board, this is the calling card with which Inzaghi will present himself on Sunday evening at San Siro for the direct clash with Allegri.
So far the crossroads have smiled more often on the coach from Livorno, who has won on nine occasions compared to the six of the coach from Piacenza, with three draws.
Since he has been in charge of Inter, however, Inzaghi has lined up four wins and three draws against Juventus and Allegri, compared to only two defeats, both of which came in the last championship.
In Serie A, however, Inzaghi has not yet beaten the Bianconeri and their coach at San Siro, in front of the Nerazzurri fans: the two successes at the Meazza so far have come, one in the Italian Cup and one in the Super Cup, while the other two victories were one at the Stadium and one in the Italian Cup final.
Furthermore, Inzaghi has no shortage of trophies in his Inter experience so far, two of which he won against Juventus and Allegri.
The Super Cup in Riyadh was the fifth trophy lifted by the Piacenza coach at the helm of Inter, five like José Mourinho: the only ones to win more on the Nerazzurri side of the Naviglio were Helenio Herrera and Roberto Mancini.
But it must also be said that trophies are often weighed more than they are counted and Inzaghi is still missing a big shot, at least the scudetto, the real objective of this season.
We will need to take one step at a time until next May, but in the meantime, by winning on Sunday, Inzaghi would also become the fifth coach with the most wins on the Inter bench, after joining Eugenio Bersellini on 91. And among the coaches with at least 50 appearances as a coach , Inzaghi is also first in terms of winning percentage, while in recent times only Leonardo has done slightly better (65.47% compared to 65.62% for the Brazilian, who however only led Inter for 32 matches).
Then, once the season is over, the future will eventually be evaluated: the present, however, all depends on the match against Juventus.
Juventus believes in it, Allegri is counting on Chiesa and Rabiot
Mission accomplished, Rabiot is also recovered in view of the Italian derby.
The midfielder respected the schedule and resumed training together with the rest of the group: his calf no longer bothers him, he will challenge Inter from the first minute on Sunday evening.
And yet Chiesa continues to train regularly and without ailments, a sign that the worst is now behind him and his 2024 can really begin.
For the class of 1997, however, there are decidedly fewer certainties that he will start as a starter: on the one hand because coach Allegri is counting a lot on his contribution during the match in progress to 'split' the match midway through the second half, on the other because at the moment the very young Yildiz and Miretti seem to have more chances to support Vlahovic.
The choice will fall on one of the two, the coach keeps everyone on edge and continues the march towards the Italian derby.
And tonight will also welcome the latest signing, with Alcaraz taking his first steps in the Juventus world.
On the morning before the match against Inter, the Argentine midfielder will undergo further checks at J Medical before wearing the new shirt.
The class of 2002, taken from Southampton, has already completed part of his visits to London, but is already looking forward to training for the first time under Allegri's orders.
In the meantime, the Bonucci affair was finally closed and there was a happy ending.
"He renounced the arbitration appeal brought against Juventus, who accepted the renouncement, with the definitive overcoming of the dispute, which occurs without any consequences of a financial nature - we read in an official note from the club - the company and Bonucci share with full satisfaction the closure of this affair, leaving the path and the winning relationship built over the years intact."
Meanwhile, the future of Allegri is becoming current again, as he met all the technical staff of the youth sector in Vinovo but still has his contract expiring in June 2025. The feeling is that Juve does not want to start next season with a coach who will end the relationship at the end of the year, but if until some time ago it seemed complicated to continue together, now the odds of an extension are clearly rising.
These will be issues to be addressed later, also because the Scudetto race is now in full swing and on Sunday evening there will be an almost decisive action against Inter.
And there is time to sit around a table to discuss the future.
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