Sports

BARCELONA — Barcelona’s 1-0 La Liga win at Villarreal on Sunday was engineered by Lionel Messi but it was not the four-time World Player of the Year but yet another promising teenager from the club’s famed academy who scored the winner. Barca struggled to break down a determined Villarreal side at the Madrigal but got the breakthrough eight minutes from time when 19-year-old substitute Sandro Ramirez, making his official debut, turned a Messi centre into the net from close range. Ramirez’s effort came after fellow academy graduate Munir el Haddadi, also 19 and also making his first official appearance, struck in the 3-0 opening day victory at home to Elche. Their success appears to confirm that new coach Luis Enrique’s strategy of deploying Barca-trained youngsters is working well in the early stages of the campaign.

LONDON — Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes his team are back to their sizzling form of last season after a superb victory over Tottenham defied those who predicted a gloomy outlook in the post-Luis Suarez era.

The Merseysiders’ 3-0 win at White Hart Lane on Sunday was achieved in the same swashbuckling manner as the run of 11 successive victories that took them to within two points of the Premier League title in May.

After a disappointing defeat by Manchester City, this was Liverpool’s reminder to the Premier League that they remained a potent force, but also a clear sign of life following the departure of last season’s star attraction.

Although Suarez has gone, it seems so has the fear that Rodgers’s side may struggle for goals in his absence, with Sunday’s haul taking their tally to six in three games.

“We have risen to every challenge since we have been here. It was the same last year — will we score enough goals and how can we improve?,” the Liverpool manager told reporters.

“The beauty of this group is that they’re very hungry... We played very well and probably clicked back into where we were last season — which was great to see. Hopefully people enjoyed watching us as well.”

For Rodgers, Sunday’s win was a personal milestone, bringing up his 56th victory in 100 games as Liverpool manager, putting him level with Bill Shankly and only behind Kenny Dalglish (62).

There was perhaps no better place to show that the departure of a top player need not have an overly detrimental effect — coming against a Tottenham team who were in the same situation last year.

Whereas Tottenham never quite recovered from Gareth Bale’s move to Real Madrid, Rodgers can look at his squad and be satisfied with the attacking options at his disposal.

Debutant Mario Balotelli was effective if unspectacular and Daniel Sturridge had an uncharacteristic off day, but Raheem Sterling confirmed his rising stature and importance with a goal and a man-of-the-match display that delighted his manager.

Playing at the tip of Rodgers’s diamond formation before switching to the more accustomed wing role, he showed the kind of tactical flexibility that managers love.

“He was fantastic today again and got another goal,” the Liverpool boss said.

“His pressure and tactical awareness in the game is improving and, for a kid of 19, he has been great.

“He’s flexible — we’ve tried to develop him to be able to not only be a wide player, but to have the freedom and awareness to play on the inside...

“It’s important for me that they have the intelligence to play in a number of positions and I think he is developing that well.”

LONDON — Chelsea striker Diego Costa needs to learn to show respect to opponents after the Spaniard goaded Everton players during their pulsating 6-3 English Premier League win, Toffees coach Roberto Martinez said on Sunday.

New signing Costa taunted Seamus Coleman after the Irish defender’s own goal put Chelsea 3-1 ahead at Goodison Park which prompted an angry reaction from a number of Everton players, in particular American goalkeeper Tim Howard.

“There are certain foreign players who come to the Premier League who need to understand the ethics and the culture,” Everton boss Martinez told reporters.

“The behaviour in the British game is unique. The last thing you want to see is disrespect from a player to another player and I am sure he will learn that very quickly.

“There is a real professionalism and respect in the league so you can understand why the players weren’t happy with that, in the same way as trying to buy free kicks with the way he plays.”

Costa has been impressive in firing Chelsea to the top of the table after scoring four goals in his first three games since signing from Spanish champions Atletico Madrid in the close season.

Mourinho’s version

Television viewers around the world were treated to a dazzling exhibition of attacking football when Chelsea beat Everton but visiting manager Jose Mourinho was hardly purring with joy.

Mourinho’s teams are traditionally rock solid at the back and he was disappointed Chelsea let in three goals.

“I know they are a good offensive side but to concede three goals is too much,” the outspoken Portuguese told Sky TV. “All of them I can clearly define the mistakes, the people involved and where we failed.

“We were killers in attack, especially on the counter-attack, so when you come to this stadium and get three points it is a reason to be happy. When you come here and score six goals, obviously my players did well.

“I want to be different in that we play better football, score more goals, but I don’t want to be different in the sense that we concede goals,” said Mourinho.

“To concede three goals and identify the mistakes we made is something I have to work at.”

New signing Diego Costa continued his excellent start to the season with two goals while Chelsea’s other efforts came from Branislav Ivanovic, an own goal from Seamus Coleman, Nemanja Matic and Ramires.

Chasing cards

Mourinho accused Everton of trying to goad Brazilian-born Spain striker Costa who has inspired Chelsea’s 100 per cent start to the season with four goals in the opening three league games.

“The thing I didn’t like in this game — apart from some of our defensive mistakes — was the way some Everton players were trying to create problems for him [Costa],” he said.

“I don’t think this is English football. There is a good tradition with Everton teams because everything is good, everything is positive, the manager, the quality of their football.

“But to be chasing cards to a player who once more had good behaviour and was just here to play football is disappointing. Today everyone was chasing him to get him in trouble.”

Everton boss Roberto Martinez said his team’s defending was simply not good enough.

“I don’t think many teams will score three against Chelsea this season,” said the Spaniard, “but the two boxes are going to dictate the scoreline and we were too soft with our defending.

“Every time the ball was around our 18-metre box we had a real sense of fear of it ending up in the back of the net.

“We have conceded 10 goals in three games and that’s not like us at all.”

Everton have two points from their opening three matches.

MONACO — Champions League holders Real Madrid will face former European champions Liverpool, FC Basel and debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria following the group stage draw on Thursday.

The eagerly-awaited event, held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, had a distinct air of deja vu about it.

Bayern Munich and Manchester City were drawn in the same group for the second successive season, as were Chelsea and Schalke 04, and Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund.

Barcelona and Paris St. Germain, both clubs with strong links to Qatar, will also face each other in a mouthwatering clash.

Real won the title for a record-extending 10th time when they beat Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra time in Lisbon in May and have the chance to avenge a 5-0 aggregate defeat by five-time champions Liverpool in the last 16 in 2009 when they lost 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu and 4-0 at Anfield.

Further back in time Liverpool beat Real 1-0 in the 1981 European Cup final in Paris.

Real will open the defence of their crown when they host Basel in a Group B match on September 16 and will visit the minnows of Ludogorets on October 1. They face Liverpool at Anfield on October 22 with the return leg in Madrid on November 4.

“We know it’s going to be very tough,” said Cristiano Ronaldo of the Liverpool tie. “In general the group is nice, it’s good for Real Madrid.

“We are going to try and do the same again this season. We’re going to try to win the Champions League. It will be difficult but Real Madrid are always thinking big, thinking huge.”

Amazing group 

Bayern and Manchester City were joined by CSKA Moscow for the second straight season too with AS Roma completing the quartet in Group E.

Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football told reporters: “Last season Bayern were first, we were second and we also played CSKA, and the fourth team now is very tough, a very strong team in AS Roma.

“All the clubs try to play good football, so it will be an amazing group.”

Last season City midfielder Yaya Toure was racially abused at CSKA leading European football’s governing body UEFA to order a partial closure of their stadium.

Last season’s runners-up Atletico were grouped with former champions Juventus, Olympiakos Piraeus and Malmo of Sweden in Group A.

Barca and PSG will also face former European champions Ajax Amsterdam and APOEL Nicosia in Group F.

Successive seasons 

Real Madrid, who waited 12 years to secure their 10th title, are bidding to become the first club in the Champions League era to win the trophy in successive seasons, a feat achieved fairly regularly under the old European Cup format.

The last team to win the title in successive seasons were AC Milan in 1989 and 1990, but Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 17 goals in the competition for Real last season, sees no reason why they cannot retain their crown.

Speaking at the draw ceremony after picking up an award as the best player in the competition last season, the Portugal winger was asked by compère and former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, if Real could win it again.

“Why not? Everything is possible. I’ve won it with Manchester United and now with Madrid, so we’re looking forward to another one.”

As well as facing Liverpool, back in the Champions League for the first time since 2010, and Basel, Real will also play Ludogorets who were described as “the fairytale club” by UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino during the draw.

Ludogorets qualified for the group stage for the first time with a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win over former champions Steaua Bucharest in an amazing finale to their match on Wednesday.

Ludogorets defender Cosmin Moti went in goal after keeper Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off in the last minute of extra time.

He then scored the first penalty in the shoot-out before saving two other spot kicks as Ludogorets went through.

Bulgaria spotlight 

“I’m happy with the draw,” Ludogorets coach Georgi Dermendzhiev told local bTV channel. “Real Madrid will light up Bulgaria.

“Liverpool are a very strong team too and we know Basel because we met them last year in the Europa League. I can assure you that you’ll see a stronger Ludogorets from now on.”

While Ludogorets might be enjoying their place at the top table for the first time, many teams were drawn together again, including Bayern and Manchester City who meet for the third time in four seasons.

Last term Bayern won 3-1 in Manchester before City won the return 3-2 in Munich as both teams qualified from the group.

Bayern Chairman Karl Hopfner told reporters: “We know the teams well after facing Man City and CSKA last year and Roma will not be easy either. I think it is the toughest group by far.”

Another intriguing draw pitted Barca with PSG, Ajax and APOEL. Barcelona and the Paris club have strong links with Qatar — PSG are now owned by the Qatari Investment Authority and Barca are heavily backed by the Qatar Foundation.

PSG’s Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic also has close links with both teams, having also played for Barca, and will no doubt relish the matches against his former teammates.

The competition gets underway on September 16 with this season’s final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on June 6.

BARCELONA — Cristiano Ronaldo admits that he suffered for pushing himself too much at the end of last season but is now close to his best as Real Madrid prepare to face Real Sociedad on Sunday.

The Portuguese forward, who was named UEFA’s Best Player in Europe on Thursday, suffered knee problems at the end of the last campaign and was not fully recovered by the World Cup.

Ronaldo will be rested for Real Madrid’s trip to Real Sociedad to allow him fully recover from injuries, coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday.

The Portuguese has struggled with injuries since the back end of last season and has also not been called up by Portugal for the upcoming international break, which means almost three weeks off for the mercurial 29-year-old.

“He is okay but we have preferred to use this week and the following two for him to recover fully and get him in top condition. He will not play tomorrow and is not in the squad,” Ancelotti told a news conference in Madrid.

Ronaldo has recovered from the knee injury that affected him at the end of the last campaign but was also not 100 per cent at the World Cup in Brazil.

Of late, he has been troubled with a hamstring strain he picked up in the defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.

His absence means James Rodriguez is likely to play in the three-man attack alongside Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema with Isco slotting into the midfield.

Real have been weakened by the departures of Angel Di Maria and Xabi Alonso this week, and Ancelotti admitted he was taken aback by the decision of the latter to go to Bayern Munich.

“It was a surprise. Everything was calm and so we were a bit surprised but we respect him a lot. Alonso is a very honest person with himself and with the Real Madrid,” said the Italian.

“He explained it well and said that he needed more motivation. Everyone here at the club respects him and it would have been very difficult to get him to change his mind. You can’t say to a player like Xabi that he couldn’t leave. I wish him luck and he has been a very important player for the team last season.

“It is possible that some people think that the team is under-strength but we have players that can perform in different positions. We have five strikers because Isco and James [Rodriguez] can play there.

“The squad is not closed because the market is still open. Maybe we will sign somebody but at the same time it is possible we won’t.”

“In life you don’t win without making sacrifices and you have to take risks at times. Perhaps in other circumstances I would have acted differently,” Ronaldo told Marca.

Ronaldo played a key role as Real finally won their 10th European Cup crown following a 12-year wait, setting a new Champions League scoring record along the way with 17 goals.

“We were involved in important competitions with the Champions League and then the World Cup,” he added.

“Things went well and I beat the record of goals in the Champions League. I then had holidays where I could rest a month and only had treatment and looked after my body.

“Then there were ups and downs in pre-season which is normal with the Real Madrid tour, the trips, the tiredness and jet-lag. All this means that you can’t work well.

“Last week I was running okay but I still need some days to be at my best although it will be soon.

“Clearly I did [force myself too much]. I should probably have stopped and now I would be fine.”

Real have made an inconsistent start to the season as following an impressive victory in the European Super Cup over Sevilla, they then lost the domestic version to Atletico Madrid.

They won their first match of the La Liga season last weekend against newly promoted Cordoba but it was not a strong display and they lacked rhythm and pace through midfield and attack.

Jaded Atletico

Carlo Ancelotti’s side are now having to come to terms with the loss of Angel Di Maria and Xabi Alonso, who have joined Manchester United and Bayern Munich this week and were fundamental players in the side last season.

“I will miss all the good players that go like Di Maria and Xabi Alonso. The president knows better than anyone what he is doing and we have good players here to help us keep winning,” Ronaldo added.

Atletico Madrid appeared to be suffering the effects of their two-legged Super Cup win over Real as they lacked intensity in their draw away to Rayo Vallecano and will be looking to bounce back against Eibar.

“We have the same ambitions as last year. We know that we have to be at our top level and ready,” forward Raul Garcia told a news conference.

“Last year, people said the team wasn’t strong enough physically and we proved them wrong.”

Barcelona, under new coach Luis Enrique, made a bright start with a convincing 3-0 win over Elche with Lionel Messi scoring twice. They next take on Villarreal.

“I know the team well and Marcelino was my trainer at Sevilla,” Barca midfielder Ivan Rakitic said.

“His philosophy is to have a strong team, work hard on the physical side and prepare the side well. We know that it will be a very difficult game but we are in a positive mood.”

AMMAN — Eight teams have made it beyond the preliminary round of the Jordan Cup as Baqaa, Shabab Urdun and Hussein were eliminated. The top four teams from each of the two groups moved to the quarters, which will see Ahli play Ramtha, That Ras play Jazira, Wihdat face Sarih and Faisali play Manshieh. Ahli, who made a comeback to the Pro League, topped Group A standings and were the first to qualify after impressive results. They were followed by Faisali, Jazira and Sarih. In Group B, holders Wihdat and That Ras topped the group followed by Manshieh and Ramtha. Most significant results were Ahli beating Faisali 3-0 and Baqaa 1-0, while Wihdat beat Ramtha 3-1 and were held 0-0 with Shabab Urdun, who lost 1-0 to That Ras.

AMMAN — The men's Olympic football team is set to host its Uzbek counterpart on Saturday in the final phase of preparations for the Asian Games as well as the 2016 Olympic qualifiers set for March 2015.

The line-up is still missing key players on club and national team duty, and there were calls to reconsider taking part in the Asian Games with this status quo.

Coach Jamal Abu Abed stressed that his aim was reaching Round 2 of the competition, after the team plays runners-up UAE as well as India in the preliminary round.

Earlier this year, the team hosted the England C squad in a historic match, losing 1-0. The team held Iran 2-2 and 1-1, Kuwait 1-1 twice and Qatar 0-0. Jordan settled for second at the Palestine International Championship.

Meanwhile, the women's football teams are in high gear as they prepare for upcoming Asian Games. 

The senior women's team is now on a training camp in Cairo as it readies for a mammoth task, having been drawn in Group A alongside Taiwan,  Japan and China. 

The team had a tough time earlier this year at its first Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's 2014 Asian Cup, where Jordan was one of eight qualifying teams and the only Arab team to have ever qualified to the premier women's football competition in the AFC region.

Jordan lost to world champs Japan 7-0 after losing to Australia and hosts Vietnam 3-1 in Group A. The top two teams from each group and the best third placed team qualified to the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada.

ROME — The Serie A season kicks off on Saturday with Italian football at a new low following a miserable World Cup campaign and the election of a federation president embroiled in a racism row.

Once Europe’s most prestigious league, Serie A has lost its glamour over the last few years as dilapidated stadiums, financial problems, racism and hooliganism have all taken their toll, not to mention two match-fixing scandals.

It has dropped to fifth, below Portugal, in the UEFA ranking which determines the distribution of places in the Champions League and Europa League.

Rather than signing the world’s best players, Italian football now has to make do with ones who have past their peak in the English Premier League and La Liga, or who have yet to make the grade there.

Champions Juventus chased Chile forward Alexis Sanchez but ended up with 21-year-old Spaniard Alvaro Morata, who struggled to get a place at Real Madrid last season, and 33-year Patrice Evra from Manchester United. Evra’s former United teammate Nemanja Vidic moved to Inter Milan on a free transfer.

There have been flickers of encouragement with Juventus, winners of Serie A for the last three seasons and proud owners of the only club-owned stadium in the top flight, and AS Roma showing what can be achieved with a new outlook.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was another beacon of hope as he rooted out the negativity and cynicism often linked with the four-time world champions and did his best to rejuvenate the team despite an unproductive youth system.

But Italy’s group-stage World Cup exit, following defeats by Costa Rica and Uruguay, undid much of his good work and prompted Prandelli to quit with two years left on his contract. He joined Galatasaray in Turkey. 

Antiquated structure

A second, and more far-reaching consequence, was that Italian federation (FIGC) President Giancarlo Abete, who had taken a lead in trying to stamp out the racism which has blighted the game, also resigned.

The election to replace him exposed the antiquated power structure and suggested that old habits will die hard.

Two candidates battled for the presidency, 42-year-old former AC Milan and Italy midfielder Demetrio Albertini and 71-year-old Carlo Tavecchio, head of the association of amateur leagues (LND).

Albertini had the support of the Players’, Referees’ and Coaches’ Associations as well as Juventus and Roma, plus the sympathy of fans and the media. That seemed to suggest that he was the man to take Italian football forward.

The real power in FIGC elections, however, lies with the Serie B, the Lega Pro, which represents the third and fourth division clubs and the LND. They backed Tavecchio.

Amid widespread disbelief among anti-discrimination campaigners abroad, Tavecchio was swept home despite referring to African players as “banana eaters” during a prepared speech to the LND.

Unhappy at the lack of opportunities given to Italian players at professional clubs, Tavecchio talked of a fictitious player who he named Opti Poba and, he said, “previously ate bananas and then suddenly becomes a first-team player with Lazio”.

In many countries, Tavecchio’s career would have been finished, yet, after a quick apology, Italian football carried on as if nothing had happened. The FIGC’s own internal prosecutor has dropped the case against Tavecchio for lack of evidence, although he is now facing an investigation by European football’s governing body UEFA.

AC Milan were among the clubs to offer immediate support to Tavecchio and dismiss the outcry which his remarks caused outside Italy.

Milan are one of the clubs most in need of change, the seven-time European champions having become a pale shadow of their former selves.

Silvio Berlusconi, who has been club president since 1986, and Adriano Galliani, his long-standing right-hand man once famous for his ability to make big-name signings, have seemed unable to cope with Milan’s new reality.

Having announced two years ago that the club would concentrate on developing young players, they did exactly the opposite in the transfer market, signing expensive journeymen and players in their thirties.

When Massimiliano Allegri was sacked as coach in January, Milan announced that Clarence Seedorf was the man to take them into the future, only to fire him at the end of the season in a decision that defied all logic.

They have now turned to their former striker Filippo Inzaghi, previously coach of the under-19 team, who will inherit the same problems as his two predecessors.

Allegri, meanwhile, has found a sanctuary at Juventus following the shock resignation of Antonio Conte after the first training session of the season.

In three seasons, the fiery Conte had led Juventus to successive Serie A titles and made them the dominant force in Italian football while the phlegmatic Allegri had been swimming against the tide at Milan.

The change has put a different complexion on this year’s championship with AS Roma, who finished second in Rudi Garcia’s debut season in charge last term, ready to offer an even stronger challenge.

LONDON — From being the most reviled club in British football, MK Dons woke up on Wednesday to find they had gained new friends all over the world with a single result.

Derided since their formation a decade ago as an artificial “franchise” club, the League One (third tier) side caused widespread delight by inflicting a humiliating 4-0 defeat on Louis van Gaal’s supposedly mighty Manchester United.

It came on the day that United, English champions 13 times in the last 22 years, paid a British record transfer fee of almost £60 million ($99.40 million) for Real Madrid’s Angel di Maria.

Van Gaal, who has yet to win in three competitive matches for his new club, may have made 10 changes for the game, but nobody in Milton Keynes, northwest of London, was allowing that to detract from the greatest day in the history of the football club — and arguably the town itself.

Developed from a small village in the 1960s, with the aim of becoming a major regional centre, Milton Keynes had been best known until a decade ago for its roundabouts and iconic sculpture of concrete cows.

Then in 2003 Wimbledon football club, FA Cup winners 15 years earlier, were moved there from south London by their owners against the wishes of most supporters.

The following year the name was changed to MK Dons, while dissenting fans formed their own club, AFC Wimbledon, who subsequently reached the Football League.

Bad feeling

Bad feeling remains between the two, who have subsequently met twice in cup matches. The most recent occasion was a fortnight ago in the first round of the Capital One Cup, when a 3-1 victory earned MK Dons their glamour tie against United.

By winning it in such convincing fashion on Tuesday night, in front of a record attendance of 26,969, they hope to have thrown off the mantle of unpopularity in which they have always been shrouded.

“It’s the day we came of age,” the club’s owner and chairman Pete Winkelman, a former music executive, told BBC Radio on Wednesday.

“We’re a young club with lots of controversy in the beginning and we’re proud to be making history at last.”

Asked if it would lead to greater acceptance within football, he said: “I hope that it will allow the club to look forward.

“Since the club’s been in Milton Keynes it’s made a real difference locally.”

Although the club have never played above the third tier, Winkelman has greater ambitions. “I’ve no doubt that one day Milton Keynes Dons will be a Premier League football team,” he said.

“But whatever happens, that result will never be forgotten in Milton Keynes.”

ROME — Massimiliano Allegri’s move to Juventus has given the phlegmatic coach the chance to prove that the disastrous run which led to his downfall at AC Milan was caused by reasons beyond his control.

Allegri was named as Juventus coach in July after the shock resignation of Antonio Conte, who had led the team to three successive Serie A titles in as many seasons in charge and made them the dominant force in Serie A.

Out of a job at the time, he was a convenient option for Juventus although their fans were certainly not impressed and greeted the appointment with protests.

AC Milan had dismissed Allegri halfway through last season after a 4-3 defeat to Serie A newcomers Sassuolo on a wet January evening left them languishing in eleventh place with only five wins in 19 outings.

But Allegri hardly seemed to be to blame for the fiasco, having seen his top players, including Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, sold off over the previous 18 months.

The 47-year-old was swimming against the tide against Milan, a club struggling to come to terms with the harsh, austerity-strapped new reality of Italian football.

He had agreed to help the club rebuild the team with talented young players and had led them to a respectable third in 2012/13, winning the backing of the Ultras.

Instead of youth, however, Milan’s leadership seemed all at sea and provided Allegri with a motley assortment of journeyman professionals and players clearly past their best such as Michael Essien and Kaka. 

Pirlo relationship

It had all been very different in his first two seasons when Allegri led Milan to the Serie A title in his debut season, followed by a second place the following year.

Deadpan and unflappable, he proved adept at handling a powder keg of a dressing room which had included unpredictable talents such as, at various points, Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Mario Balotelli and Kevin-Prince Boateng.

The one player Allegri felt he could not deal with was Brazilian Ronaldinho, well-known for his partying lifestyle, who returned to his homeland.

Andrea Pirlo, meanwhile, left at the end of Allegri’s first season in charge and has since enjoyed three seasons of unmitigated brilliance at Juventus and a quirk of fate has now reunited the pair.

“I have always enjoyed a good relationship with him,” said Allegri on his official presentation.

“Andrea is still, a champion. When he was at Milan with me, he went through that season which wasn’t particularly lucky for him considering that it was dogged by injuries. But, he always played when he was fit.

“In football sometimes you think that things might go one way but eventually they take an unexpected turn or head in another direction. As I have explained a thousand times, in the end it just happened. The club, Andrea and I met and he decided to join Juventus.”

Conte shouting

Allegri now finds himself at a club that is going in the opposite direction to Milan.

Whereas Milan play in the fading, municipally-owned San Siro, Juventus are the only Serie A club to own their stadium and the only team to routinely play in front of a full house at home.

With only a few days to go until the end of the transfer window, Juventus have managed to retain all their key players including Pirlo, midfielders Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba and front pair of Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente.

Allegri knows that he will have no excuses this time, although it is not going to be easy to maintain Juve’s remarkable recent form.

The passionate Conte is a tough act to replace and he made it clear last season that he felt that Juventus had reached their peak in winning Serie A with a record 102 points.

AS Roma, Napoli and Fiorentina all look like serious contenders and may well feel that Juventus are vulnerable without Conte.

But midfielder Claudio Marchisio said that Conte’s departure could reinvigorate the squad who may have suffered enough of his infamous dressing-room tirades.

“It’s up to us to show now that, after three years of Conte, we can still do it without his shouting,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“We’ve got better in these three years and Allegri has inherited a squad which has come a long way. Allegri is calm and has his own character but that doesn’t mean to say we work less.

“It gets harder to win every year but the arrival of a new coach has given us more motivation. It’s wrong to talk about the end of a cycle.

“Our aim is to improve where we failed before and Allegri is the right coach to relaunch us.”