Allegri: I advised Barzagli to change or end up in Lega Pro

Published on: 29 June 2017

Being in charge of Andrea Barzagli as a coach isn’t the first time Massimiliano Allegri has had to issue him with important advice, he has revealed.

The pair were teammates towards the end of the current Juventus tactician’s playing career at Serie B side Pistoiese in 2000, as a teenage Barzagli was beginning to make his way in the game.

However, an important tweak Allegri helped make to the young man’s game helped change his career for the better.

“I was at the end of my career by that stage, I was already practically retired,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia. “He was just starting out in his own career but at that time he was playing as a midfielder.

“I told him that if he continued like that in that role, then he wouldn’t get beyond Lega Pro and that if he wanted to make it far in his career, something had to change, starting with moving back 15 metres.”

Since the change, Barzagli has won every major domestic honour in Italy on multiple occasions as well as the German league title and a World Cup in 2006.

Source: forzaitalianfootball.com

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