Next Sunday, Juventus will travel to the Brianza region to face Monza in the first meeting between the two teams in Serie A.
While the Bianconeri haven’t exactly enjoyed a stellar start to the campaign, things have been disastrous for the newly promoted side.
After losing their first five league games, Silvio Berlusconi’s side finally picked up a single point in an away draw against newcomers Lecce.
In the end, Monza ran out of patience with Giovanni Stroppa and decided to take up the ax on Tuesday morning.
Instead, the club’s official website has announced the appointment of Raffaele Palladino as caretaker manager.
The 38-year-old is a familiar face for the Bianconeri, having been on the club’s books between 2003 and 2008.
Following loan spells at Salernitana and Livorno, the striker returned to Turin to form part of Didier Deschamps’ squad during the 2006/07 campaign.
He stayed one more season at Juventus after the club’s promotion, before joining Genoa in 2008 in search of more players. He eventually ended his playing career at Monza in 2019 and is currently in charge of the club’s Primavera.
At the moment, it is unclear whether Monza vice president Adriano Galliani will be able to sign a new coach before the match against the Bianconeri. Otherwise, Palladino will prepare for a baptism of fire against his old club.
Surely Max Allegri would want to avoid an embarrassing misstep against a struggling club led by a rookie manager.
