Calcio Debate: Could Lippi Return To Juve Next Season?
Marcello Lippi has enjoyed incredible success during two previous spells at Juve, however Carlo Garganese believes he could sit on the Bianconeri bench for a third time next season.
zoom - galleria Marcello Lippi is undoubtedly one of the greatest Coaches in the history of the game. He has won virtually every major honour in football, including the biggest of them all – the FIFA World Cup.
His club career is most associated for his two outstanding spells at Juventus. He first took charge in 1994 during possibly the darkest period in the club’s history.
The Bianconeri had not won the Serie A title for eight years, and were being totally eclipsed by the brilliant AC Milan side of that era.
However Lippi’s impact was immediate. In his first season he constructed a magnificent squad, involving the likes of Ciro Ferrara and Jurgen Kohler at the back, Paulo Sousa and Didier Deschamps in midfield, and a terrifying quartet of strikers in Fabrizio Ravanelli, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Baggio and a young Alessandro Del Piero.
Juve romped to the title, finishing 10 points clear of second-placed Lazio. They also won the Coppa Italia, and narrowly avoided the treble after finishing runners-up in the UEFA Cup.
The next season Lippi led the club to even greater glory, as Juve won the Champions League for only the second time in their history, following a penalty-shootout victory over Ajax.
The 1996/97 team was arguably the finest under Lippi. They added the legendary Zinedine Zidane to their ranks and comfortably won another Scudetto. They picked up the Intercontinental crown by defeating Enzo Francescoli’s River Plate in Japan, and memorably thrashed Paris Saint-Germain 9-2 on aggregate in the European Supercup.
They also reached another Champions League final, but despite dominating the game and hitting the woodwork a host of times they fell to a 3-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
The Bianconeri retained the Scudetto in 1997/98 with Del Piero and the newly signed Filippo Inzaghi scoring 39 league goals between them. Lippi led the team to a third successive Champions League final, where they again lost, this time 1-0 to Real Madrid in a close match.
After winning numerous honours Lippi’s drive began to waver a touch, and he left the club midway through the next season.
Juventus won nothing under Carlo Ancelotti during the next two-and-a-half years, with Carletto gaining the reputation as a close-shave “loser”.
Lippi surprisingly returned for the start of 2001/02 with Luciano Moggi famously declaring Lippi as a “winner”.
Lucky Luciano proved to be right and in his first season back at the club, he immediately led the club to the Scudetto, following Inter’s final day capitulation at Lazio.
He added another league title the following year, and also reached an incredible fourth Champions League final, which Juventus again lost, this time to Milan on penalties in Manchester.
He left to take the Italian national job in 2004, with whom he led to World Cup glory in Germany last summer.
Lippi resigned from his post just days after the triumph in Berlin and he has been out of work since. In the last week he has confirmed that he will be definitely returning to management for the start of the next season.
So where will he go?
Well my money is on Juventus. Lippi and the Bianconeri are simply made for each other. Having won five Serie A titles in seven full seasons at the club, and having reached four Champions League finals during this time – there can be no doubting Lippi’s credentials.
Many believe that current boss Claudio Ranieri was only brought in as a stop-gap solution. His role, even if he is not aware of it, is to qualify Juve for the Champions League. Once he does this, it is very likely he will be fired, and a world-class coach such as Lippi, or even Jose Mourinho, will be brought in.
Let’s face it - Ranieri is not a “winner”. Indeed he has won nothing of note in his entire 20 years of coaching.
What the Tinkerman is good at, is building the foundations of a team. However he does not have the ability to go that extra step and lead them to success.
At Cagliari he led the Sardinians from Serie C to Serie A – an excellent achievement. He moved on to Napoli, who the previous year had won the Scudetto. Ranieri led the team to a respectable fourth but he won no silverware.
During four years in charge of a Fiorentina team including Gabriel Batistuta and Manuel Rui Costa, he formed a fine squad, however ultimately all he won was a Coppa Italia and Italian Supercup – two trophies of little value.
At Valencia he won a Spanish Cup and was absolutely crucial in laying the foundations for a team who would reach two Champions league finals after he left. However again he won nothing of significance.
Finally there were the four years at Chelsea, where Ranieri built most of the foundations of which Jose Mourinho would eventually reap the rewards. But did Ranieri win a Premiership title or a Champions League? The answer is no.
I am certain that Ranieri will do a good job this year in re-building this Juventus side after their year spent in Serie B. Indeed the Old Lady have made a superb start to the season and currently look odds-on to gain a top-four place.
But realistically we all know that Ranieri is not capable of going that extra yard and leading Juve to the Scudetto or the Champions League.
That role is reserved for Lippi next year.
Carlo Garganese
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