If Serie A has a title race and nobody is there to see it, did it really happen?
Fears over the spread of the Coronavirus have sadly robbed supporters of a showpiece match the league has needed for almost a decade, a serious rival finally emerging to contest Juventus’ domination of the Italian football landscape. It has been decided that the game with Inter will be played behind closed doors, reducing what could be the decisive clash in the race for Lo Scudetto into a sterile television show.
Of course, even in front of 41,000 empty seats in Turin, the two teams will still play with the same passion and intensity, each side’s respective coach will demand nothing less as they prepare for the latest instalment of the Derby d’Italia.
OFFICIAL: Sunday's Serie A tie between Juventus and Inter will be played behind closed doors as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Udinese vs Fiorentina, Milan vs Genoa, Parma vs SPAL and Sassuolo vs Brescia will also be played with no supporters present. pic.twitter.com/vwktEduepN
— Goal (@goal) February 27, 2020
While Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez will be looking to get the better of a Bianconeri backline and Cristiano Ronaldo is set to renew his long-standing duel with Diego Godin, there is arguably no better nor more intriguing head-to-head matchup than the one taking place on the touchline between Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri. There is no end of intriguing storylines between the two; the latter now occupies a seat on the bench once occupied by the former, while Conte’s entire mission at Inter is to overthrow the juggernaut he helped transform Juventus into during his spell in charge of the Old Lady.
The differences between them – one in a well-fitted suit and obsessively maintaining his hair implants, the other happy to wear trainers while chewing on a cigarette butt – are stark, yet perhaps the most interesting talking point lies within the similarities of the respective challenges each man accepted this past summer. Conte arrived at Inter fully aware of the problems that have so often besieged the club. In fact, he was so cognisant of their penchant to self-destruct that one of his first acts after being appointed was to insist that the song “Pazza Inter” (a title which translates as “Crazy Inter”) was no longer played at the stadium before or after matches.
He also demanded that any player who could disrupt his careful planning was shipped out, a decision which led to Mauro Icardi, Radja Nainggolan and Ivan Perisic all moving on. While each clearly caused issues for former boss Luciano Spalletti, that trio had unquestionably been Inter’s three best players in recent seasons, yet Conte refused to tolerate them even in preseason.
Instead, he worked with transfer expert Beppe Marotta to build a squad that relied almost as much on effort and energy as it did on talent, ensuring that Conte could call upon players who would follow his instructions to the letter and act professionally at all times. In essence, the Coach has recreated his Juve team from 2013/14; a workmanlike unit that uses the 3-5-2 system to remain defensively sound, but there is also enough quality in midfield and attack to overrun any opponent.
Lukaku and Martinez have struck up a superb partnership, the former Manchester United man now back at his unstoppable best while his Argentinian sidekick is quickly emerging as a truly gifted forward. Together they have contributed 28 league goals already, while behind them the rest of the side has been galvanised not just by Conte, but by leaders like Godin who have helped the Coach usher in a calm assuredness that is the antithesis of Inter’s usual mindset.
Winning at a relentless pace, there is no denying that Conte’s work in transforming Inter into a carbon copy of Juve has been impressive. The 50-year-old has always insisted that he should be judged solely on results and, with Inter having lost just two league games all season, his record speaks for itself once again. Meanwhile, the man who replaced him at Stamford Bridge is finding his newest role to be the most difficult of his career.
When Sarri landed in Turin last summer, it was an appointment based on the premise that, having won the Scudetto for eight consecutive seasons, it was now time for Juventus to sweep to victory in style. Max Allegri – like Conte before him – guaranteed success, but the Old Lady wanted more. She looked on with envy as coaches like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp swashbuckled their way to silverware and decided it was time she too wanted to play beautiful football.
Reports circulating in Turin that Maurizio Sarri's job could be at risk if Juventus lose to Inter this weekend… pic.twitter.com/ua7Qk60i4s
— Forza Juventus (@ForzaJuveEN) February 28, 2020
Who better to instil that idea than the creator of ‘Sarrismo’, a man whose Napoli side had not only challenged Juve for a brief time but who had also won over neutral supporters with their breathtakingly quick approach and intricate passing patterns. It is widely understood that implementing that type of approach takes time, a theory that Guardiola’s first year at Manchester City stands as Exhibit A in proving, but it is worth taking a moment to explain the reasons why.
It’s not that Sarri is spending hours on the training ground teaching Miralem Pjanic and co. how to make an incisive through ball rather than a safe five yard pass, it’s working to make him believe that he should be attempting the more risky option after years of being drilled into having the opposite mentality.
That point stands not just for every player at the club, but also the backroom staff, the club’s hierarchy and even their supporters, all of whom have spent decades being told the Juventus maxim of “winning is not important, it’s the only thing that matters.” Dropping Sarri into that world and asking him to deliver the same slick, stylish approach he became famous for with Napoli was a bold move, but it is one that was always going to be met with serious resistance, something even former opponents can recognise.
“He is a precise coach in purely tactical terms,” ex-Roma boss Rudi Garcia told reporters this week. “However, Juventus are an institution and they rarely make profound changes to their identity, even when the coach is replaced by someone else.” That is clearly the case as all too often the team has reverted back to the cautious approach of the past whenever they face adversity, something Sarri admitted himself after the midweek loss to Lyon in the Champions League.
“I don’t know why, I cannot get the players to understand the importance of moving the ball quickly,” he confessed during a post-match press conference. “This is fundamental, we’ll keep working on it and sooner or later this concept will get into their heads. I continued to tell them, and there were many who were doing it, moving the ball too slowly and therefore getting into the wrong positions. We had training yesterday and the ball was moving twice as quickly as it did tonight. This is the opposite of what should happen!”
Sarri’s frustration is understandable, but it is also accurate to say that getting the players to buy into his methods is the most fundamental aspect of his job. It was always going to be difficult, and if results don’t improve soon he might find his tenure coming to an end after just one season, failure simply unacceptable for a club of such stature.
There is still time for “Sarrismo” to become the new normal at Juventus, but if one man can understand just how tough it has been to transform the entire ethos of a club, it is the coach who has made Inter poised rather than “pazza.” The stadium might be empty on Sunday, but there will be no shortage of people watching as Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri go head-to-head. They have more in common than you think.
