The day that all Juventus fans have been waiting for has finally arrived. Sunday afternoon Antonio Conte will return to sit on the black and white bench. He will do it in the setting of Barbera in Palermo, 209 days after the last time (120 disqualification). It was already understood that Juventus-Atalanta on 14 May was not a normal match: Juventus fans still get goosebumps when they think back to Alex Del Piero's farewell. That day Conte was thinking of everything except the football betting affair, unaware that that bench would be taken away from him for a long time. Then came the summer, the accusation of sporting offense and failure to report by the Federal Prosecutor, the three levels of judgment, the (definitive) disqualification to 4 months pronounced by Tnas for failure to report the Albinoleffe-Siena match. A real storm, also fueled by the person concerned, the protagonist of a press conference of rare intensity. “There is a judge who talks about me, says inappropriate things, perhaps as a fan – thundered Conte flanked by his lawyers. – He has something personal with me. It's an absurd, chilling affair, especially towards me: I've never bet in my life, I've always been correct, on and off the pitch”.
An outburst that has split Italy even more, which as always is divided between black and white and non-black and white. On the one hand the justicialists "regardless", on the other the Juventus people, lined up en masse with their leader. A sort of holy war (come on, pass us the term!) of football, along the lines of Calciopoli, destined however to end on 9 December. Because Antonio Conte is ready to take back the leading role that belongs to him, even if that, to tell the truth, has never been lacking. In fact, he has always made the decisions, certainly in Vinovo, perhaps even in the stadiums, where the cameras were fixed on his box, a bit like the ever-present Fabio Paratici, always with his cell phone in hand as if it were the last day of the transfer market . Seriously, it's clear that the coach has always managed the team, but it's equally clear that having him back on the bench will be a completely different matter. Good Alessio doesn't want it, but he is to Conte as a cat is to a tiger, at least in terms of grit. The tactical prowess (of both) is not discussed, but here, as Al Pacino said, "one centimeter can make the difference between victory and defeat". So work during the week is fine, but in the game you need wild eyes, a hoarse voice, outbursts against everything and everyone, ultras-like celebrations. From Sunday football finds Antonio Conte, a character destined to divide. And that's exactly why we missed him badly.
