It’s strange how things sometimes work out in football, with it being revealed that Carlo Ancelotti wasn’t, in fact, Real Madrid’s first-choice for a new manager once Zinedine Zidane had left the club.
According to AS, that honour fell to Max Allegri, but the pull of his former club, Juventus, was too good to resist.
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With Andrea Pirlo sacked by the Bianconeri in May after a terrible 2020/21 Serie A campaign in which they could only finish fourth, the role would appear to have come along just at the right time for Allegri.
Had it not done so, the chances are it would’ve been he and not Ancelotti on the Santiago Bernabeu bench for the forthcoming season.
The job at Juve is certainly one Allegri knows well, ditto his countryman at Real.
Both will be tested to their maximum over the first few weeks of the season, and whether they’re going to have a successful campaign will probably be determined by those first few games.
Will it be like getting back on the bicycle, or could both appointments turn into unmitigated disasters…