Sarri: 'Didn't believe in me or Allegri'

By Football Italia staff

Maurizio Sarri reveals the encounter with Max Allegri at the start of their management careers. “A friend said to me, if you two are coaches, anyone can be.”

It was in Serie C2 on November 16, 2003, with only 1,400 fans in the stadium.

Sarri’s Sangiovannese hosted Allegri’s Aglianese in a dire 0-0 draw, but 15 years later they would both have Juventus on their CVs.

“Nobody believed in us at the time,” Sarri said on stage at an event to mark 100 years of his hometown club Figline.

“That game ended 0-0, no goals, no shots on target. At the end of the match, a friend said to me: ‘If you two are coaches, anyone can be…’

“I hope and believe that there is still something of that Sarri in me now. The spirit is the same, I haven’t changed the way I approach football.

“The emotions I felt in Sangiovannese v Montevarchi are something I’ve rarely experienced again in my career, not even in international Finals.”

Sarri won the Europa League Final with Chelsea in May.

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