OFFICIAL: Allegri returns to Juventus to replace Pirlo as manager

Massimiliano Allegri has been re-appointed as Juventus manager following the sacking of Andrea Pirlo

Allegri has come back to the Turin club on a €9m (£7.7m)-a-year deal, two years after he departed following a successful first spell in charge.

The 53-year-old guided Juve to two Champions League finals, he also won four Coppa Italia trophies between 2014 and 2019 and departed that summer after a fifth straight Serie A triumph.

Allegri was understood to be the favourite to fill the vacant post at Real Madrid following Zinedine Zidane's departure, but Antonio Conte, who guided Inter Milan to the Serie A title last season, is now believed under consideration as a candidate to replace Zidane at the Bernabeu.

The appointment comes following the dismissal of Pirlo earlier on Friday, with the 42-year-old having overseen Juve missing out on the Italian top-flight title for the first time in 10 years.

Juventus:

Allegri finds a bench that he knows very well, a club that he loves and that loves him back, as today a new journey begins together, towards new goals.

What he achieved in his first adventure at Juventus are engraved in the club’s history: five Scudetti, to the four-consecutive doubles, coupled with the Coppa Italia and to the two Super Cups, reaching two Champions League finals in just three seasons, in what were epic feats both in Italy and in Europe.

We said goodbye two years ago with the message, “History Alone”, the message on the back of the shirt given to Massimiliano Allegri by President Andrea Agnelli with an embrace and a shirt, on which in just two words encapsulated Allegri's experience at Juve.

The beauty of the story, however, is that it never stops. And in football, this means a concept that we have ingrained in our DNA: the best victory is the next one. Always.

And now we are ready to begin again with Allegri, to build our future together; with his enormous professionalism, his moral strength, with the brilliant ideas of a coach capable of shuffling the cards, both on and off the pitch. With his smile, a sort of "signature". With his way of understanding football and life with simplicity, with his desire to play things down and with the commitment to enjoy every beautiful moment that being at Juventus can give and will give.