Juventus have sacked Thiago Motta as manager and appointed Igor Tudor as his replacement. The decision comes after Motta guided the club to consecutive heavy defeats in Serie A, losing 4-0 at home to Atalanta and 3-0 at Fiorentina.
Those losses left Juve fifth in the table, 12 points behind the leaders, Inter. The 42-year-old’s side were also surprisingly knocked out of the Champions League in the playoff round by PSV Eindhoven in February. Less than a week later, they exited the Coppa Italia, knocked out by Empoli after a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals.
“Juventus FC announces that it has relieved Thiago Motta of his position as coach of the men’s first team,” read a club statement on Sunday. “Juventus FC also announces that it has entrusted the leadership of the men’s first team to Igor Tudor, who will direct the first training session tomorrow.”
Motta was appointed as Juventus manager on a three-year contract in June after leading Bologna to Champions League qualification last season. Juve went 21 league games without defeat earlier in the campaign but in that period Motta’s team drew 13 matches, which meant they were never in the title race. The manager has paid the price for the recent heavy defeats, which have angered supporters.
Since his arrival, Motta took a hard stance with players, with Federico Chiesa told he was not part of the manager’s plans before he was sold to Liverpool last August.
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Tudor, 46, is a former Juve player and Croatia international who most recently was in charge of Lazio. In 2020, Tudor was Andrea Pirlo’s assistant at Juventus for one season. In his first game in charge, Juve host Genoa on Saturday.