Juventus have confirmed Massimiliano Allegri has returned as their new head coach, taking over from Andrea Pirlo.
Rookie coach Pirlo could only manage a fourth-placed finish in Serie A in 2020-21, and a Coppa Italia triumph was not enough for the club legend to keep his job.
It is Allegri – who guided Juve to five straight Serie A titles and two Champions League finals between 2014 and 2019 – who Juve have turned to.
Using Opta data, Stats Perform analyses the key numbers and statistics from Allegri's first, trophy-laden spell in charge of the Old Lady.
RECORD SETTER
Juve's two highest-scoring seasons dating back as far as 1930 have both come under the stewardship of Allegri.
In fact, Allgeri is responsible three of the seven Juventus seasons during which they have netted 100 goals or more – alongside his predecessor Pirlo, Antonio Conte and Jesse Carver.
Allegri guided Juventus to 26 home wins in 2016-17 – the highest total produced by the club in a single campaign dating back to at least 1930 – while his 2017-18 season (which was also the campaign in which Juve netted 112 goals) saw the Bianconeri record 18 away wins, the most in any season since 1930.
TOP OF THE CHARTS
Only one coach in Juve's history, Giovanni Trapattoni, has overseen more league games than Allegri's 190.
Juve amassed 142 victories, giving Allegri a win percentage of 74.74, clear of second-placed Conte (72.81), who managed 83 triumphs from 114 matches.
During his five seasons with Juve, Allegri suffered just 20 league defeats, with his team scoring 380 goals and conceding 125 in return, averaging 2.39 points per game.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: ALLEGRI V CONTE
Allegri succeeded Conte at Juve in 2014, with the latter – who has just left Inter having guided the Nerazzurri to their first Serie A title in 11 years – taking over as Italy coach.
Conte spent three seasons with Juve, starting their title streak that Allegri and subsequently Maurizio Sarri would go on to continue.
In total, Allegri was in charge of Juve for 271 games in all competitions, overseeing 191 wins (a 70.48 success rate), 43 draws and 37 defeats.
Conte had 151 matches at the helm, recording 102 victories – 67.55 per cent – and 34 draws. However, his Juve team lost on just 15 occasions, at an average of five per season.
Hurzeler prepared for 'intense' Fulham clash
Fabian Hurzeler is expecting an "intense" contest when Brighton and Hove Albion face Fulham in the Premier League on Thursday.
Brighton were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw with bottom side Southampton last Friday but are fourth in the table after 13 rounds of matches.
Fulham are four points behind Brighton after going two games without a win, but Hurzeler is anticipating a tough match at Craven Cottage.
"They are a very good team, good in possession," he said. "They do everything out of compactness and they try to shift and be aggressive.
"It is a very small, tight stadium; the pitch is not the biggest, so it should be quite an intense game."
Hurzeler will have a different vantage point for the match in south London as he is serving a touchline ban after being yellow carded last week.
"Honestly, I trust my team, I trust my staff," he said. "I'm also very convinced that the players will do it on the pitch."
Fulham were stunned 4-1 by lowly Wolves in their most recent home game, which they followed up with a creditable 1-1 draw at Tottenham.
Tom Cairney was sent off and will therefore serve a suspension in the game with Brighton, while Sasa Lukic and Harrison Reed are also out.
Goalkeeper Bernd Leno accepts Fulham will not find things easy against the high-flying Seagulls.
"Brighton are a very good team, very well organised team. It will be a very tough game," he said.
"We'll try to play our game, we'll try to win that game, but Brighton are in a good moment. Hopefully we can keep the points at the Cottage."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Fulham - Harry Wilson
Wilson has been involved in four goals in his past four Premier League appearances against Brighton (two goals and two assists), including a goal and an assist in a 3-0 win for Fulham in this corresponding fixture last season.
The forward has yet to start a league game this season, but he has three goals in nine substitute appearances for Marco Silva's side.
Brighton - Kaoru Mitoma
Mitoma opened the scoring for Brighton in their draw with Southampton, making it goals in back-to-back Premier League games.
The Japan international has more goals (two) in his past two games than he managed in the previous 24 (one) in the competition, but he has never scored in three in a row.
MATCH PREDICTION - FULHAM WIN
Brighton have won three of their six Premier League away games so far this season, which is just one less than they managed in the whole of the 2023-24 campaign.
Fulham have conceded in each of their last 10 Premier League home games, meanwhile, shipping 20 goals in total in this run.
However, the London side are unbeaten in all eight of their Premier League games against Brighton – the joint-most they have faced a side without ever losing (along with Norwich City).
Brighton have also failed to win any of their league visits to Craven Cottage, losing three of those and drawing the other.
Furthermore, Albion are winless in their past nine Premier League away matches against London clubs in their worst-such run since between 1961 and 1967 (10 games).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Fulham - 41.4%
Brighton - 33.8%
Draw - 24.8%
Alonso: Schick injury 'doesn't look good'
Xabi Alonso says the injury that forced Patrik Schick off during Bayer Leverkusen's win over Bayern Munich "doesn't look good".
Schick was substituted an hour into Tuesday's DFB-Pokal tie, having only been introduced at half-time, after sustaining an injury off the ball.
The forward has scored nine goals for Leverkusen in all competitions this season, a tally only Florian Wirtz can match.
Asked about Schick's injury after his side's 1-0 victory at the Allianz Arena, head coach Alonso said: "Patrik felt something in his calf.
"He's being examined and we'll see. It doesn't look good at the moment."
Schick played the full 90 minutes for Leverkusen and scored the winner in Saturday's 2-1 Bundesliga win at Union Berlin.
Asked by Bild about his substitution against Bayern, the Czech international suggested he was already carrying a knock.
"I suffered a thigh problem in Berlin. I can't say more now, I don't know," he said.
Nathan Tella scored the only goal of the last-16 tie in the 69th minute, with holders Leverkusen profiting from Manuel Neuer's first-half dismissal.
The reigning German champions have scored in 35 successive DFB-Pokal away games, yet they were not at their best in Bavaria.
Despite having less possession and registering fewer shots than their opponents, Leverkusen got the job done to advance to the quarter-finals.
"It was not our best game with the ball or even with an extra man but we applied our plan," defender Jonathan Tah said.
"It was not immediately easy to adapt to having an extra man. We did not use it in the first half. We were too hectic and wanted to score quickly.
"We did not do it perfectly today but we were effective and then Nathan headed in the winner."
Alonso has now won all nine of his games as a head coach in the competition – only Louis van Gaal and Pep Guardiola (both 10) have gone longer unbeaten at the start of their coaching careers.
Neuer accepts blame as Bayern exit cup to Leverkusen
Manuel Neuer accepts he made a costly mistake after being sent off as Bayern Munich exited the DFB-Pokal at the last-16 stage with a 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
The experienced goalkeeper was shown a straight red card in the 17th minute with the game goalless for fouling Jeremie Frimpong outside his box.
It marked the first time Neuer has been dismissed in his illustrious career and Leverkusen took full advantage thanks to Nathan Tella's 69th-minute winner.
Speaking after Tuesday's contest at the Allianz Arena, Neuer said: "I tried to get to the ball but didn't get there in time.
"I was hoping he would be in an offside position. I can't change it now. It was a mistake and I have to accept it."
Bayern have won the competition a record 20 times but have failed to get past the quarter-final stage since they last lifted the cup in 2020.
The Bavarians are four points clear at the top of Bundesliga and are 13th in the Champions League group phase in Vincent Kompany's first season in charge.
Despite the loss, which came in the absence of injured top scorer Harry Kane, head coach Kompany remains upbeat for the remainder of the season.
"The fact is we lost and we won't win the cup this season," he said. "But with experience we know this was also a special performance from us.
"If this feeling remains we will win many games but this cup we cannot win it any more.
"It is bitter for us. We won't have a good evening. But if this energy remains then we will win many more games. This team can grow further and we will get our moments."
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