Motta was embattled and left with Tudor short-term €500,000 to fight Juventus

The reporter reported coldly After a 3-0 defeat at Fiorentina on 16 March, dropping out of the Champions League in the top four of Serie A, it was only a matter of time before Motta was abandoned by Juventus. Regardless of his coaching results, his relationship with the club's hierarchy or the dressing room, Motta is in a desperate situation where he will inevitably be sacked. Over the weekend, Italian media and reporters were already rumored that Juve would change the line of fire, and sure enough, before the new week arrived, Motta received a dismissal call from Juve's top management. Tudor, who coached Andrea Pirlo for Juventus four years ago, will lead the team in the remaining nine rounds of Serie A for Champions League qualification.

Juventus invested 234 million euros and signed 13 players this season, but they were eliminated from the Italian Super Cup, Champions League and Coppa Italia, and even fell out of the top four Champions League places before the international break. Most of the high-priced signings are either suffering from injuries or unable to deliver performances that match their high prices. In particular, they have conceded seven goals in their recent games against Atalanta and Fiorentina, and Motta has also had a heated argument with sporting director Jontoli at Fiorentina. Juventus' management's patience with Motta has finally reached its limit. The final decision was made last Friday after talks with CEO Gianthony Scanavino.

On Sunday afternoon, Juventus officials called to inform him of the dismissal of Motta, who had lost his job with his family just after spending the weekend in Portugal. Juve don't have a tradition of changing managers midway, with the last coach to drop midway was Ferrara in 2009/10. This time, the coach changed when there were 9 rounds left in Serie A, and it was also because Motta's performance was too bad. Motta has only 18 wins, 17 draws and 7 defeats in 42 games, and Juventus has the second-highest draw rate (40.47%). The winning percentage (42.86 per cent) is the lowest in 15 years, just above Del Neri in 2010/11 (40 per cent) and the third lowest winning percentage in Juventus history since 1929/30.

Moreover, Motta has long since lost the support of management and the dressing room. "Milan Sport" revealed that during the change of coach conversation, Giontoli actually said to Motta "I am ashamed of the original selection of you". In terms of player attitudes, Fabrizio Romano, a well-known transfer expert, broke the news that Motta would be sacked on social media, and Danilo and Chiesa Jr., who were abandoned by Motta last summer, immediately liked it. Likers even included the team's center, Vlahovic, but he quickly withdrew it. As for the practice of taking turns as captains, it undoubtedly directly creates a disagreement in the dressing room.

Replacing Motta's firefighting coach, sporting director Jontoli has two options: Mancini or Tudor. Mancini's condition is that he will automatically renew his contract if he enters the Champions League at the end of the season, and Tudor is willing to sign a four-month temporary contract, including the Club World Cup. If they qualify for next season's Champions League, Juve only have until 30 July to decide whether to renew Tudor's contract, giving Juve time to consider other big-name managers. After all, Juventus need bigger coaches to reinvigorate themselves after five consecutive seasons of missing out on the title, with Antonio Conte, Roberto Mancini and Stefano Pioli among the favourites to have an edge over Tudor. Compared with the two, it is natural that Tudor is more "cost-effective".

Tudor could not refuse Juventus' call, and in 2020 he even terminated his contract with Split Freedom Fighters FC at his own expense to assist Andrea Pirlo in Turin. Tudor drove from Split to Turin last Sunday night, where agent Seric was waiting for him to sign. Yesterday afternoon, Tudor began his first training as Juventus manager at Condinassa. This time, he brought in an assistant coach who was his old partner from last year's coach at Lazio, Javocic.

Ironically, Juve's sacking of Motta and hiring Tudor were more due to financial reasons. Motta's three-year contract with Juventus stipulates that Motta and the coaching staff will receive 20 million euros in compensation if they are fired for the first two years.

Juventus chose to sack Motta in March because the "liquidity index" of Serie A's Financial Fair Play Act will undergo a new round of evaluation on March 31. Juventus are currently below the Serie A target, and if the holding company Exor is willing to "absorb" the compensation, Motta will not hesitate to give it up. Otherwise, Juve had intended to continue to endure and at least factor the cost of changing managers into the second quarter of April-June.

Obviously, Juve's top management was supported by the capital of the holding company before they dared to kill Motta. In addition, Tudor was selected as a firefighting instructor with a salary of only 500,000 euros on a temporary contract for three months. Even if the contract is renewed, the annual salary is only 2 million euros, which is far lower than Mancini, who is strongly supported by Giontoli. This is the second time Tudor has been a firefighting coach in March, following last year's Lazio. This time, the Croatian meritorious defender returned to his old club without hesitation to put out the fire, which is also one of the few consolations for Juventus fans who have been extremely disappointed this season.