Juventus have sacked their manager Thiago Motta and have appointed Croatian coach, Igor Tudor to replace him at the Serie A club on Sunday. This comes after two heavy defeats in a disappointing season.
Juventus sack Thiago Motta
Firstly, Juventus was beaten 3-0 by Fiorentina on March 16 following an 4-0 thrashing at home to Atalanta on March 9. With these two losses, Motta's side dropped to fifth in the standings as they were leapfrogged by Bologna. They are now 12 points behind league leaders Inter Milan.
Juventus FC announces that it has relieved Thiago Motta of his position as coach of the men's first team, a club statement said. Juventus also announces that it has entrusted the leadership of the Men's First Team to Igor Tudor who will direct the first training session tomorrow.
The 46-year-old coach, Igor Tudor has spent most of his playing time at Juventus. He arrived to the club back in 1998. During the 2020 season, Tudor was Andrea Pirlo's assistant at Juventus for one season. Tudor has previously managed Udinese, Hellas Verona and Lazio.
Juventus failed once again to reach the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 as they were knocked out of the competition in the playoff stage by PSV Eindhoven last month. Less than a week later, Juventus were eliminated out of the Coppa Italia by Empoli after the penalty shootout in the quarterfinals.
Juventus went 21 games unbeaten in the league earlier this season as it consisted 13 draws which prevented them to even enter the title race this campaign. While there was an upturn after the first loss to Napoli in January, the Black and White won five games on the trot. But, the manager had to pay the price after those two heavy defeats.
Since his arrival at Juventus, Motta has taken the hard route with the players as Federico Chiesa was told that he is not part of his plans before he was sent to Liverpool in August. Juventus will now face Genoa on Saturday.